Well it wasn’t a bad week really….apart from on Tuesday when it rained for most of the day….and then today when we had some annoying drizzle that made everything sticky again. But otherwise it was good, and very warm at times. A combination of wet and warm means that the grass is growing at a rapid rate, and is thick and lush. It dried out enough to cut towards the end of the week, but I was too busy to take advantage, so it wasn’t until after getting back from the market yesterday afternoon that I wheeled out the ride on mower and set to work. I managed to cut some areas, but it made the mower wheeze a bit, and in some places the grass was so thick that the machine couldn’t cope, so I am going to have to strim those sections before being able to mow them. Such are the current growing conditions that I will have to re-cut the areas I did yesterday very soon, and unless we have a drought again this summer this heralds the start of a weekly cycle of mowing until well into the autumn.
On Monday I was visited by a young man who is about to set out on his own market gardening career. He came for a look around and to talk to me about his plans. It was lovely to see such enthusiasm, he was like an excited puppy. I assured him that he was welcome to pick my brains at any time, and that I would be happy to visit his site to offer advice on its layout if he so wished. He reminded me of myself learning about growing from Bert Boxall down in Cornwall when I was still wet behind the ears.
I got the shot above of the deer in the parkland yesterday afternoon when I was leaving for home. The light level wasn’t very good at the time and I was a long way away, so I had the zoom lens pretty much fully extended, which makes it difficult to keep steady without a tripod. The quality is poor, but I think you will agree that they look cute. This was a group of about a dozen, there are often lots more than that grazing, including some bucks with handsome antlers. I will try for a better photograph on a clearer day, or I could just photoshop it 😉
I planted a row of Little Gem lettuces in the polytunnel last week, and will add another in a day or two. The peas are putting on some growth now, so I will need to get the netting up to support them soon. I am going to be cutting some Swiss chard this week from the greenhouse, but it is in fairly limited supply at the moment. In addition to that there will be spring greens, cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli, not bad for this time of the year. These greens are supplemented by imported courgettes and tomatoes, plus a fair few root vegetables.
I have received a couple of negative comments about the quality of the blood oranges last week. If you had any go bad on you please let me know and I will replace them. Now that it is getting warmer I would suggest keeping them refrigerated. Another factor may be that it is getting close to the end of their season, though I will have them this week for the last time. The Clementines are very variable in size so I have just listed them by the ‘bag’, I will fill the bag with as many as is appropriate, it could be 4 it could be 8, or somewhere in between….trust me. If the apples come in as large as they were last week I won’t get rich on them, but I have kept the price as it was….anything to keep the doctor away, it’s cheap and reliable healthcare.
We haven’t had an article from the Foxearth Historical Society for a while, so here goes. I wonder if God came up trumps?