A new water storage system and feng shui in the polytunnels

June has been another busy month on the field for our growers, workshares and volunteers. So much so, the ‘This Week on the Field’ section of the members’ weekly newsletter, the ‘Peelings’ has now been divided into two sections – ‘Outside’ and ‘in the Polytunnels’!

Outside activities have included sowing of carrots, radish and turnips. Whilst an array of vegetables have been planted from cauliflowers, purple sprouting broccoli, lettuces, broad beans, runner beans, calabrese, pumpkins, gemstone squash, leeks, tomatoes to potatoes and celeriac.

Outside tasks have also included a new water storage system, compost turning, plenty of bed preparation and of course some weeding! Towards the end of the month, a newframe was assembled for the brassicas.

Inside the polytunnels, there has been plenty of ‘re-ordering’ to accommodate the fabulous plants. The aubergines required more space in the small polytunnel, and benches have been dismantled left, right and centre to make more room! Empty pots and trays have either been filled with manure and compost for more peppers and tomatoes or hidden away. The tomatoes are growing nicely, as can be seen from the image. Any free space didn’t last long, with planting of coriander, chilli and sweet peppers, cucumbers, climbing and Dwarf French beans. Due to poor germination from last month, more pumpkins have been sown and peas were planted towards the end of the month.

We can’t finish this growing update without a ‘shout out’ to the lettuces which have been the talk of the fields for weeks now! Check out the “The story of a bumper lettuce crop” to hear about our succession planting which will keep lettuce on our members’ plates for nearly half the year!