17th July

We just got back from our holidays, and there was a job on the too do list straight away, and this was to get ground bedformed and plant the twenty thousand over winter Cauliflower, that we have sitting and looking good.

The over winter purple sprouting Broccoli, was blocked about four weeks later than the cauliflower, so we should be planting that around mid-August.

But it was wet when we were away, and the ground was a wee bit too damp, over the weekend for me to get any ground bed formed.

But on Tuesday morning it was a bit better, so I got the bed former on and got some ground ready.

With Erin and Calum on school holidays, we had two extra pair of hands for planting.

By the end of the afternoon, we had fifteen thousand cauliflower plants planted, but we cannot leave it at that, they need to be fleeced straight away, or our best friends the pigeons will come in as soon as we leave for a feast.

The crows are not as shy, they were bopping around beside us, they come in and pull the plants out to get the grubs underneath, well we assume they are at that; they might just be pulling them out for a laugh.

With only five thousand Cauliflower plants left to be planted, that wouldn’t take long.

But we had really nice days, followed by huge thunder storms every day, keeping the ground soaking wet.

But the rain has really brought on the crops in the field, the pointed cabbage has really shot on, along with the kale, so we made a start on harvesting those.

The onions and Leeks have really swelled up with the rain, but we will leave them a bit before we start harvesting them.

So, the main job we need to get done straight away next week, is to finish of the Cauliflower planting, then its back onto the weeding.