Spring greetings all,
Things are tentatively warming up over here and there are exciting things to think about every which way we turn. We welcome Josh to our farm team this week - originally from Newcastle, he worked developing local energy projects but got sick of writing reports and sitting in meetings so went WWOOFING, working on farms in Devon, Gloucestershire, Oxford, France and Italy, then spent some time on a farm up in Northumblerland that bred rare breed livestock alongside a market garden before deciding to make the move and join us here at Flourish. Favourite vegetable? Fennel.
Over on the farm, the flower bay is looking absolutely stunning, with the earliest ranunculi quivering in the wind and tulips exploding out of themselves. The beds are laid with delicious creamy chocolate soil rotovated with lashings of thick organic compost that's primed to support new life – no more muddy mayhem now the rain's finally taken a back seat.
We've just paid a visit to the mini jungle in the propagation house, where seedlings galore are growing at breakneck speeds. The tables are bowing under the great weight of thousands of pots of aubergines, chillis and toms, all growing tall like soldiers among their green stakes, while the first cherry tomatoes have been planted and are growing steadily, enjoying the lashings of mulch on the beds.
This week the team will be out skinning our newest polytunnels, which will protect the delicate peppers and aubergines as they're planted out.
Other things being planted in the next week include lettuces, beetroots, chards and all manner of different kales, while sweetcorn, Mexican mint marigold and agretti are having a second planting after the irresistible first plantings were lost to pests.
The winter salads are winding down but the delicious nasturtiums are growing away and before we know it the peas will be clambering up their hazel sticks and we'll soon be harvesting fresh young peas and their flowers.
Hope you're as excited as we are!
Team Flourish
