Mid February marks the proper start of the growing season for us. The winter jobs are coming to an end and plant growth is starting to pick up. Today I cultivated in some seaweed ready for early spud planting later this week. In the glasshouse we've been sowing seeds for a month and now have some nice little plants coming…
A good proportion of our hedges on Scilly are Pittosporum angustifolia, which are very hardy evergreens originally from New Zealand. They are drought tolerant, salt resistant, and withstand high winds - all characteristics which make them flourish on Scilly. The hedges are equally as good at 6ft high as they are at 20ft plus, like this one on the farm.…
We think using recycled office materials is really important, due to the impact that paper production has on ecosystems. A huge amount of paper is produced from unsustainable forestry, and many nasty chemicals used in its production. As a result we only use 100% recycled paper for printing and to make labels. Here is our latest delivery from the wonderful…
Lawrences is where we grow all of our veg, have the polytunnels and glasshouse and where our yurt is. This is what it looks like from the air! You can see we have 18 fields, some bigger than others, nearly all bordered by hedges. We cut one third of the hedges each year by hand - that's a lot of…
We've had a nice selection of fruit recently: peaches from the polytunnel - absolutely delicious (alas now sold out); grapes, also from the tunnel, still going strong and getting even sweeter; and some apples from the orchard. Devonshire Quarrenden and Scilly Pearl The first early eaters are Devonshire Quarrenden (red) and Scilly Pearl (green/yellow). Both are sweet, juicy and tasty…
Predictably, as school holidays are upon us, August has been very changeable and at times pretty wet. More rain is forecast tomorrow! This is generally quite good for veg growing, but not so much for tourism, or for that matter fruit production. Salad still growing well Onions - yes they were planted very late! But looking nice The blackberries are…
Picking salad on Monday morning at 7.00, on a beautifully calm sunny morning reminded me of why I love growing at this spot so much. The resulting salad mix is exceptionally good and really enjoyed by our customers. A very satisfying job!
April has been a very dry and sunny month, which is great for tourism and not so good for growing. The two are rarely compatible, so it's a good job we farm both vegetables and tourists! But let's not focus on the negatives - here's a selection of photos from St Martin's on a walk last Sunday. The gorse is…
The warmer and drier weather this week has lifted everyone's spirits and allowed us to get on with jobs on the farm. Today the first salad has been planted outdoors (after the early ones in the polytunnel), ready for a big harvest of salad this year...hopefully. The soil is in really good condition, having had a nice dressing of seaweed…
