Rambling #172
This prolonged heat is causing a fair amount of stress and strain – for plants and humans alike! Without a drop from the sky, the irrigation rota has been working around the clock to give everything just enough water to keep going. Even then, the prolonged heat is really affecting the yield of some of our most dependable crops like climbing French beans and cucumbers. But we’re learning to adapt to these new challenges, which are also offset by seeing other plants thrive in all this sun – the butternut squash, for example, are looking resplendent!
In other news, I was recently asked to complete a survey for the Landworkers' Alliance in support of their campaign for a Market Garden Support Fund in England. It appears that the government is seriously considering creating such a fund and has asked for data on the current scale and scope of the market garden sector. This prompted me to do the kind of maths that isn’t immediately useful to us here on the farm, and so I rarely do.
For years, I’ve been telling people that we grow around 30 different crops. It turns out we actually grow 56! And when you count all the different varieties within those crops, the number rises to 163. No wonder May was so manic, and no wonder we’re now running out of space on our harvest board!
Based on the wider survey Landworkers’ Alliance estimate that there are 1,065 market gardens in England, producing more than £210 million worth of food each year. I was interested, though not surprised, to see that market gardens employ an average of 14 people per 100 acres—much more than most other farming systems. It's a reminder that small-scale horticulture doesn't just produce food; it also creates skilled jobs and supports local economies.
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