It's all go in the garden

Mat, Jamie and Nat planting
sweet peas

In the garden we have been getting a little confused with the weather, the warm days and lack of rain make it seem more like high summer instead it's March! The Wayfarers have returned after their winter break and were keen to get going. To help reacquaint them with the farm, we went for a walk to look for hazel poles and found some great ones which we cut from old coppiced trees. We have since used some for the sweet peas the Wayfarers sowed last year, now ready to plant.  This week the group have been preparing our beds ready for planting and we also sowed a number of french beans, runner beans and peas, in toilet roll tubes where they will germinate, ready for transplanting in May. We sowed plenty so that our project schools can have some and we can sell a few in the farm shop.

The Tuesday volunteers have also been hard at it, getting a small corner of land, near the orchard, ready to plant some comfrey cuttings. We have used a cultivar known as 'Bocking 14' which is high yielding and has a high potash yield. Comfrey leaves can be used as   a mulch particularly around tomato plants, but it is best used as a liquid feed, particularly good for fruit and vegetables. Comfrey can also be added to the compost to help create a good soil improver. If you want more information how how to use comfrey, Garden Organic does a great little booklet offering straight forward advice and information. 

On Tuesday Will and Terry also planted our potatoes - a few different varieties - Swift, (good for container growing), Ratte, Druid, Bambino and Shetland Black. I'll let you know how we get on at harvest time. Happy gardening! Bex.