May in the garden
Mandie Smith
After an unusually dry April, thankfully May has brought some much-needed rain to our garden fields, so we can put the sprinklers aside, for now! Toll Field, which is situated across Priory Lane from the farm, has been brought back into production after resting last season, and most of the autumn crops have now been planted. Planting the potatoes was relatively quick and easy with machinery, but the onions all needed to be planted by hand and we owe a big ‘Thank You’ to the new and returning volunteers, who spent tireless hours getting them in the ground with us.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, the garden polytunnels are bursting with life. The cucumbers weren’t so keen on their chilly start last month, but are now happily climbing alongside the peas and beans. Sweet peas are just revealing their beautiful colours and the tomato plants are looking as happy as can be with bursts of yellow everywhere and on a few the first fruits. Together with the array of pink, red and purple Sweet Williams flowers (that are available to buy in the shop) the colourful tunnels serve as a visual reminder that summer is on its way.
With extended daylight and warmer weather inevitably comes a plethora of weeds, which is always a challenge to keep on top of and that challenge is most definitely here. Without the use of chemicals there is only one way to manage them and that’s to get down and tease them out by hand.
This season we have welcomed back students from German Waldorf schools who spend a few weeks with us as part of their learning. We are very grateful to have the extra hands to help with all our garden jobs and our gratitude also extends to those host families that make it all possible to invite these students. Additionally, we have a fulltime Warmonderhof student, the aptly named Marigold, who has joined us in the garden for the season as part of her four-year Biodynamic Agriculture course in the Netherlands. It's an absolute joy to have such an enthusiastic member of the team and we are all looking forward to the season ahead.
