Spring has definitely sprung and although I'm sure we'll get some more cold snaps (probably in June) there's no going back now. We have already sown carrots, radish, mangetout peas, baby leaf lettuce, rocket and mixed brassica salad leaves directly into the soil in the polytunnels. Peppers, aubergines, spring greens, spinach and head lettuce etc have gone into trays of compost in the propagation glasshouse. Compost for amateur gardeners now has to be peat free. Although there is currently no compulsion for commercial growers, you'll be glad to hear that we have been peat free for at least 6 years.
There is a lot of excitement about wood chip (oh yes!) in organic circles. It can be used as a mulch, composted to make seed compost and even applied fresh to fertility building leys as a slow release fertiliser. In this last scenario, it is important that it is fresh and from wood no more than 2 centimeters in diameter, known as ramial wood chip. We are doing some coppicing of our hedge rows at the moment and instead of burning the small stuff, we can now chip it and spread it on the fields!
Your donations are supporting the St Francis Food Bank in Banbury which is part of the Trussell Trust. They have asked us to provide potatoes, onions and carrots, as these are very popular and have a decent shelf life so nothing is wasted. We convert the value of your donated veg box (and fruit bag) into an equivalent amount of these staple veg. So far you have donated enough to supply 80 bags of veg! Thank you so much.