We’ve had a great turnout of volunteers recently, with groups from RBI and The Challenge – it was a great help to have large groups of volunteers coming to the farm.
As a result we’ve done lots of weeding – a job that often gets left out when there are more urgent priorities – so our squashes (above), sweetcorn and most of the leeks have more room to breathe. And, because we lots of manpower, we also finally managed to prepare lots of compost – something that had been neglected for too long.
There are also a few troubling omens around this week, though. We’ve had the first signs of a couple of pesky problems, including leek moth – this one’s a bit scary, because it can wipe out an entire crop, and there’s not a great deal you can do about it, such as spraying with a soap solution. Netting the crop could help, but because the dry weather has left the ground so hard we haven’t been able to drive in the steel rods that hold up the nets. So this is one we might have to be a bit philosophical about.
In other news, we’re planning our garlic planting in September, preparing and composting the ground – so if you enjoyed our Sutton-grown garlic this year, you can look forward to another hearty dose next May or June!