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The winters of my childhood were dominated by muck. 200 cows produce a lot of it and the dung pit always seemed to be spilling out into the yard, making shifting it a constant challenge. It might not sound idyllic but I enjoyed it, apart from the pig muck (that was just too stinky).
Over half of you grow some of your own veg. Unfortunately, given our climatic limitations, you tend to grow the same crops as us. A few of you have even credited us with inspiring you to get the spade out. As a result, our deliveries can drop off in the summer and autumn before the gardeners return around November. There is no point in fighting the tide, so for the last three years we have been putting our experience of growing to use to supply plants and seeds as Boxes to Grow, helping you grow your own.
We have cabbage plants ready and waiting for a break in the weather, with lettuce due next week. The ground is too wet and with the outlook unsettled we must be patient and be sure to take our chances when they come. Purple sprouting broccoli is finally getting going in volume, but we are still suffering from last summer when the deluge leached out nutrients and stopped the plants growing the large frame that is needed to support a good crop. Even the rye, which we sow as a green manure in the autumn, is half the expected size.
The European Food Safety Authority has labelled three neonicotinoid insecticides as ‘an unacceptable danger to bees’. Our own all-party Environmental Audit Committee has called for a moratorium on their use on plants that attract bees, but the UK and Germany are still resisting calls from the rest of Europe for restrictions on their use. Is it coincidence that these countries are the homes of the two major manufacturers of these agrochemicals, Syngenta and Bayer?
It feels good to see some crops in the ground. A spell of dry, cold weather at the beginning of the month allowed us to create perfect seed beds for planting cabbage, lettuce, spinach, beetroot, kohl rabi, carrots and potatoes. The soil was perfect, but the air frigid, so the plants were covered with fleece to keep off the east wind (it will still have been a cruel shock after being mollycoddled in a 20°C greenhouse). Most plants are looking OK and, after a little shivering, are starting to grow well.
Issue 12: Fairness and five years.
Find out more about Wicked Leeks and our publisher, organic veg box company Riverford.