3rd July

This week I am writing this from Bude in Cornwall.

This is the first summer holiday we have ever had, usually we go away in the October holidays and over Christmas, as it is not too busy on the farm.

But with Erin and Calum getting older 12 and 10 it is a wee bit harder to say no, to a summer holiday, as all their pal’s are all jetting of on holidays here there and everywhere.

Just before we left, I managed to get all the field weeded with the camera guided machine, and just before the rain came.

The main field jobs this week are just harvesting and bed weeding, so everything should run just fine.

We have bed weeded the field two times now and the crops are coming on nicely.

We will not need to bed weed the brassicas again, but we always do the leeks amd onions three times, and we still have the neeps to do.

I had direct sown the beetroot again as the first batch had not germinated after they had no rain for over two months, and yes, they have all come through just before I had left, what a difference some moist soil makes.

The carrots unfortunately have not come through, they had the same over two months of drought and heat.

But after a long phone call with Tamar seeds, there is a variety of Nantes that we can sow into July, and it is a natural seed not a F1 organic seed, so it is much, much cheaper, but the germination is only around 80%, so as soon as I am home next Saturday, I will get straight to the field re bedform and get those direct sown.

We have all our over winter Cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli sitting outside in their trays, these are coming on great and should be getting planted in a couple of weeks.

We did make a bird netting cage, just to protect them from the pigeons.

And when we plant them, they will need to stay fleeced.

Hopefully all should run smoothly when we are away playing in the waves with surfboards and paddleboards.