Hello Folks,

The most pressing issue on the farm at the moment is the weeds. They’re trying to take over and succeeding in places, having the advantage over many of our crops in this cool, wet weather. Now that most of our crops are planted out we’ve found the time to start fighting back this week, thoroughly hand weeding our red onions and celery. We use plastic sheets as ground cover to suppress the weeds which helps a lot, but it’s still the biggest battle we face at this time of year and we’ll be fighting it well into the autumn.

We’ve also been sowing lots more quick growing leafy greens to keep our salads going. We’re very proud of the lovely lettuce heads we harvested this week for the standard veg boxes – something we hope to grow more of.

Check out the veggipedia, where you”d find recipe suggestions for broad beans and cavolo nero.

In the veg boxes:

small: potatoes, broad beans, turnips, cherry vine tomatoes

standard: potatoes, carrots, onions, broad beans, cherry vine tomatoes, cavolo nero, lettuce

large: potatoes, carrots, onions, broad beans, fennel, cherry vine tomatoes, cavolo nero, salad

extra large: potatoes, carrots, onions, broad beans, courgettes, fennel, turnip, pencil beans, cherry vine tomatoes, cavolo nero, salad

fruit #1: gooseberries

fruit #2: blackcurrants

fruit #3: redcurrants

fruit #4: apricots

fruit #5: cherries

small foreign: garlic, spinach OR pak choi, lemon

standard foreign: garlic, broccoli, cucumber, spinach OR pak choi, lemon

All the produce in the ‘foreign’ additions is UK grown (apart from the lemons!), and the fresh garlic is from Left Field – the leafy tops can be eaten too!

The Open Food Network is now open for orders to be delivered with your veg box next week.

Enjoy!

The Locavore Team