I had better start with this week’s arrangements. As mentioned in the email that I sent mid-last week, I am at a family funeral on Friday, so all deliveries will be on Thursday this week. And I will not be at Wyken farmers’ market on Saturday, so there will be no order collections from there. I discovered yesterday that one or two people thought that it was yesterday that I was going to be absent, so apologies for any confusion, though I did specifically mention Saturday 14th in my email. So, this is a one-off, and everything will return to normal the following week. For customers local to Moyns Park everything will be as normal.

Well the weather last week was on the whole very encouraging, and mostly pleasant to work in. Wednesday was disappointing here, because the fog didn’t clear all day, but not as disappointing as Friday when the rain returned. There wasn’t much, but just enough to undo a lot of the good created earlier in the week by the welcome sunshine. Like me I am sure that you will have noticed the sudden explosion of blossom on the trees and in the hedgerows, and the unfurling of vibrant new leaves. Blackthorn is particularly impressive at this time, with its flowers emerging before its leaves. In the greenhouse the peach tree transitioned from bud stage to candyfloss pink blooms as soon as the sun appeared on Monday. There have been bumblebees on the wing, so I am hoping that they will do the job of pollinating without me having to resort to doing it with my make-up blusher brush…. well when I say my make-up brush I don’t mean my make-up brush, I mean that it is mine because it was gifted to me for the purpose of pollination. Historically a rabbit’s tail would have been used. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with a man having a blusher brush, it’s just that I don’t need one with my ruddy complexion.

I spent a couple of days having some very substantial bonfires. I know that they are not friendly to the environment, but it was the only practical way of dealing with the huge volume of hedging material that I needed to get rid of before the birds start building nests in it. They are now actively engaged in construction – the other day I was entranced by the labours of a female Blackbird that was back and forth with great beaks-full (beakfuls?) of building material, totally focussed in the job at hand, clearly working to a non negotiable deadline; she’s determined to avoid any contractual penalty clauses. Interestingly he was nowhere to be seen.

This week I will be cutting spring greens, there will be broccoli, Brussels sprouts (probably the final week), kale and purple sprouting broccoli. Leeks, onions, beetroot, mushrooms, swede, red cabbage, a return of sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Potatoes are Java. Apples will be Blaze, Oranges (not blood) are a variety called ‘Lane Late’, Lemons are Fino, and there will be a limited quantity of Avocados.

Next week I will begin picking wild garlic for pesto, which seems quite early this year. It needs a few more days for the leaves to add a little more growth, then we are good to go. l urge some restraint when it first hits the shelves, the season will last for at least 6 weeks, so there is no rush to stock up, and I don’t want to burn out the motor on the Magimix too soon. Bear in mind that it does freeze well, so you can enjoy it long after the foliage has died back.

Fortunately I took delivery of a new gas cylinder on Thursday, ordered a week earlier, for heating the propagating greenhouse. So I have enough fuel for this sowing season, and I got it at a reasonable price before the profiteering kicked in. I’m not saying that my supplier is taking advantage of the current dire situation in the Middle East, but I have seen lots of stories locally of customers having orders cancelled, or the price of their domestic oil being hiked by a significant margin. I understand that the global oil price has risen in the past week, for obvious reasons, and that the increase will feed through as stocks need to be replenished, but the fuel that these people ordered is already in the tanks of the suppliers and was purchased at the pre-conflict price. It stinks of malpractice to me, and at the very least seems unscrupulous. Maybe it’s my naivety showing through.

That’s all for this week, I hope that you have a good one. I will see some of you on Thursday, and others on Saturday week. Because of my truncated week I am going to have to be strict with the order deadline, so please have yours with my by Tuesday night.

Phil