Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Sowing... Brassicas again for late spring harvesting.

Harvesting... Another abundant month in the polytunnel with French beans, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower (and other brassicas), cucumber, the first of the leeks, salads, peas, beans, chillies, tomatoes and finally spinach!!

Jobs... Filling empty beds with compost happens as and when necessary and we are 'watering' the tomatoes, chillies, squash etc with a thick liquid made from the poo collected each day which is popped in a bucket and filled up with water. Yummy! However, we are really aware of the need to thoroughly wash our hands and the produce we pick before we head up to the kitchen. Having an outside sink means that the soil and dirt may be washed off easily, leaving almost clean vegetables ready for scrubbing in the kitchen sink. We are still tying up some of the taller plants - the cucumbers climb up strings attached to the top bars of the polytunnel winding their tendrils clockwise round the string. Fruit and vegetables grown like this are less likely to be attacked by pests and they are 'off' the ground so do not have soil making them dirty. We are also weeding regularly as docks, nettles and other unwanted plants seem to appear almost overnight - and the nettles have a very powerful sting!! Thankfully the sage plant at the bottom of the polytunnel has lots of leaves which, when rubbed on a nettle sting, make a massive difference (as do dock leaves!).

Comments... Our plan to keep the potatoes in the ground is working well and typically we are picking around 3-4kg of potatoes for each plant, some of the individual tubers being large enough to pop in the Rayburn (our old fashioned oven which heats the water, the radiators and is an oven and hot plate - all in one!) for lovely baked potatoes. We also need to make sure the polytunnel covering is in good enough shape to last the winter storms which may be round the corner.

September potatoes in the polytunnel
Relaxed Farming

Chillies almost ready to pick

These are our green chillies, but if we leave them on the plants a month or so more they will turn red.

Cucumber hanging from vines
Relaxed Farming