At last! It has stopped raining, the asparagus is growing and we’re able to get into the fields to plant.

We’ve been twiddling our thumbs on the farm for the last month or so: too wet to get onto the land and plant, too cold for the new crops and asparagus to really start growing and, because of the warm start to the year, very little to harvest. Finally this week the rain has eased and, though the nights are still cool – around 3 or 4 degrees centigrade, things are starting to happen.

Some of our crops are direct drilled (planted as seeds) but a lot are grown in trays and transplanted – much as you might do in your own garden (though on a slightly larger scale! – see photo above). It’s an approach that works well as it give the plants a head start over the weeds, reduces any need for thinning out and ensures we avoid having gaps due to poor germination.

This week and for the first time this year we’re able to harvest and list our wonderful asparagus; it still isn’t growing all that quickly but should pick up if the weather stays warm.

Elsewhere the first of the new season calabrese and Savoy cabbages are growing well, both could be ready to harvest in the next 8 to 10 days if the weather favours us.

… and the possibility of some cauliflowers

As the days lengthen and warm the winter vegetables start to bolt and flower, yet the new season crops are still not ready to harvest leaving a production gap of one or two months. Farmers and gardeners do their best to cheat the gap by protecting tender crops over winter and bringing forward the new season vegetables using horticultural fleece, hot beds, cloches, polytunnels and glasshouses.

At Nacton we use fleece which warms the soil and the plants a little and brings them on slightly early, but we don’t have any other way of protecting the crops – so we have to weather the hungry gap. And this week the gap has started – there are no leeks, potatoes or Savoy cabbages, there could be cauliflowers at the end of next week, but please do call if you want to order.

Easter Bank Holiday

Because we will have no produce at the beginning of next week (and because of the bank holidays) there will no Friday for Tuesday order cycle this week.

The cauliflowers remain excellent and plentiful, but the warm weather means we could have some problems ahead – we’re already harvesting the April varieties and those that should have been ready for harvest in May are very advanced – we’ll have to see what the weather has in store for us over the next few weeks (rain would be good…).

This week we’re harvesting the last of the leeks, if you’d like some please order as soon as possible – it’s very unlikely that there will be any left by the second order deadline. The Savoy cabbages are also coming to an end and if the warm weather continues this will be the last week.

The winter crops coming to end doesn’t mean things have gone quiet on the farm – in fact we couldn’t be busier: potatoes are going in and the ground is being prepared for a whole range of crops. The onions are already planted and in the next few weeks the first of the spring greens could be ready for harvest (though they are suffering in the warm dry weather).

The picture above shows chitting trays full of potatoes waiting to go into the ground. Chitting is simply the process of preparing potatoes for planting; laid out in trays in January and February the tubers are allowed to sprout, weaker eyes are removed and, when the remaining eyes have produced strong dark green or purple shoots a couple of centimetres long, the potatoes are ready for planting. The chitting process improves yields by ensuring there are no gaps in the rows and that the potato plant grows a smaller number of more vigorous stems.

We’re fast approaching a gap in production but we still have lots of cauliflowers. Other than that we have leeks and Savoy cabbages, though both are a little more limited this week.

The drought last year was disastrous – we had to sacrifice some crops and constantly risked running out of water. Not wanting to face the same situation again the Farm set about constructing a new 10 million gallon reservoir allowing us to capture autumn and winter rainfall for use through spring and early summer. The reservoir is formed by pushing up banks of earth and, because of our sandy soil, has to be lined to keep the water in (see below), construction should be complete in the next few weeks – let’s hope we have some rain to fill it!

Header Image: Archaeologists working in the new reservoir – our part of Suffolk has a long and rich history and we look forward to hearing more about the shards of pottery they found.

We’ve still got lots of lovely winter vegetables; the cauliflowers are more plentiful than last week and the swede, white cabbages and leeks are all excellent. Savoy cabbages are a little more limited this week, but as they grow we should be able to harvest larger volumes.

This winter I’ve been eating a lot of celeriac and have discovered that it makes a fantastic gratin: peel, slice it thinly and layer it in an oven proof dish with garlic, rosemary and plenty of salt and pepper. Then pour on lots of cream (but not quite enough to cover the celeriac), dress with olive oil and bake for 40 or 50 minutes in a hot oven. It’s cooked when the celeriac is soft and the top is brown – grate a bit of chese on top and finish up under the grill for a delicious crispy top.

Now the snow has melted we’re taking stock of the frost damage and working out what will be available over the next few weeks. This week availability is much the same as last, with Savoy cabbages, swede, celeriac, leeks, potatoes and a few white cabbages, but over the next couple of weeks availability will shrink further – though we are looking forward to harvesting the next block of cauliflowers early next month.

Water (or the lack of it)
The snow melted slowly which is ideal as it reduces run-off and ensures we get the full benefit of all that water (6 inches of snow – and we almost had that much – is the equivalent of about 1 inch of rain), but water is still a big issue on the farm and looks like it will be throughout 2012.

At the beginning of next week Caroline Spelman (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) will meet water companies, environmental NGOs and farming groups to discuss ways we might reduce the impact of the persistent dry conditions in the south and east. Here on the farm we’re already preparing for another dry year; we’ve cut the potato acreage back by 10% and the onions by 30% – at the same time we’re building a new reservoir and looking at a range of approaches to irrigation that will help us make best use of limited water resources without compromising the needs of other water users and the environment.

Energy generation on the farm
Home Farm’s cold storage, though efficient, has the potential to use a lot of  energy; meanwhile many of our buildings have large roofs. So it makes sense for us to start generating some of our own energy and work on our photovoltaic array (solar panels) – fitted to the roof of the grain-store and workshop – will begin next week. The electricity will primarily be used to power the coldstore and in the long term the panels should save the farm money: the great news is that they will start to significantly reduce our carbon footprint as soon as they’re commissioned.

This year we’ve planned for much greater continuity and a bigger range, (including: red kale, green kale, pointed cabbages, cavolo nero, swede, cauliflowers and savoy cabbages). Weather permitting we’ll be harvesting all of these for the next 3 or 4 months.

The fennel is, as ever, excellent and at 250g-300g a great size. We’re offering bunched red onions for the first time this year – the green tops eat well too and are great stirred in with new potatoes or added to a salad. As with the onions the green tops on the bunched red and golden beet are a great extra and can be used in place of spinach as can the beautiful ruby chard.

We’re almost at full production but we’re still waiting for a few early summer crops: Romanescu cauliflower will be listed next week and red and white cabbages by mid July along with brown onions.