Morning Folks,

In market garden news, our growers are continuing with preparations for the new growing season. At Left Field, Louis, Hannah  and Natalie have been sowing French beans and red Russian kale, as well as planting out lettuce seedlings. In our Rouken Glen greenhouse, they’ve been clearing the beds and constructing supports for tomato plants. And as you might have seen on our Facebook page, they’ve harvested a big crop of salad for this weeks veg boxes.

At the Croft the Nanogrowers received a huge soil order last Friday which has mostly been shifted on to the beds. The first plants went into the beds as well, some very early French beans are planted out under cloches. The sweetcorn seedlings are coming along well and we’ll place another big seed order for the nanogrowers today. Look forward to rainbow carrots, rainbow beetroot, tree spinach, pattypan squash, salsify and more!

The Open Food Network is now open for orders ready for delivery next week. New this week are bags of tomatoes. There’s now also an option to donate a veg box to our Good Food Fund, which will go to a local family living in food poverty. You can find more information about this initiative here.

You can enter April’s Munch of the Month competition by sharing a picture of a veg box dish to social media with the tags #locavorevegbox and #locavoremm by the 2nd of May. The winner will receive a hamper of delightful ethical goods from our shop. If you haven’t already, join your fellow subscribers in our subscribers group.

In the veg boxes this week:

small: potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, leeks, swede

standard: potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, purple or white sprouting broccoli, salad

large: potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, purple or white sprouting broccoli, salad, leeks, pea shoots

extra large: potatoes, carrots, onions, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, purple or white sprouting broccoli, salad, leeks, pea shoots, kale, sprouting kale

[Note: it may be called white sprouting broccoli, but it’s definitely more yellow in colour!]

fruit #1: Conference pears

fruit #2: Red Pippin or Sparta apples

fruit #3: Star Ruby grapefruit

fruit #4: Navel oranges

fruit #5: Bananas

small additional foreign veg: courgettes, fennel, garlic

standard additional foreign veg: aubergine, courgettes, fennel, garlic

It’s the third Friday of the month, which means we’re delivering store cupboard staples boxes. These boxes contain a selection of pastas, pulses and grains, and come in three sizes: small (£5), standard (£10) and large (£20). If you’d like to add one to your order, get in touch!

Enjoy!

The Locavore Team