Farming Friends

Harvest on the farm is now progressing rapidly after a slow start.  The initial problems have been travelling with the combine, which has been sinking in the saturated soil.  The solution to this problem has been to source a set of flotation ‘terra’ tyres and fit them to the combine.  Terra tyres have been trading at a premium over recent weeks and long waiting lists have been quoted for new wheel assemblies.  Luckily we knew of a neighbour who had a set that they weren’t using so all we had to do was get some wheel centres manufactured by a local engineering firm (£160 for the pair on Saturday morning) and we could get the wheels onto the combine.  The other choice would have been to add dual wheels to the existing standard combine wheels, however this can put excess stress on the hubs and is more likely to result in a broken wheel hub/axle.  The new tyres have proved useful as the combine has been able to travel along the heavy land fields, although they are still not providing sufficient carrying capacity on the saturated sand land. (more…)

Combine Harvester Harvest

 

Our combine harvester is working very hard at the moment. It has been harvesting;

• oilseed rape / canola,
• barley,

and will soon be harvesting

• wheat.

When the combine harvester leaves the farm yard I am always reminded of the Combine Harvester Song by The Wurzels.

Arable Crops Barley Canola Combine Harvester Farm Machinery Harvest Oilseed Rape The Combine Harvester Song The Wurzels Wheat

 

My wooden seated arch is a great place to sit both for me and the cats. On a sunny morning I can enter the garden to find up to five cats sitting on the seat basking in the early morning sun.

The seat backs onto the orchard so it is a great place to sit and listen to all the wildlife going about their business. Butterflies galore can be seen from the seat as we have positioned the arch between two apple trees.

Many birds can be seen and heard from this lovely garden feature - particularly the blue tits, robin, blackbirds and magpies! The guinea fowl and Hatty the hen can also be seen or heard flapping their wings, squawking or pecking their way around the garden or orchard.

When I take a seat for a solitary moment it is not long before I realise that I am not alone. This is fine as I enjoy sharing my garden with all the wildlife.

My clever Dad made this seat and I think it is fabulous - thanks Dad.

Today is a beautiful sunny day so I am going to have my dinner outside on my lovely wooden seated arch………

……..aaaah! Lunch was lovely out in the fresh air with the guinea fowl calling in the distance and the butterflies fluttering past. What an idyllic Summer’s day.

Garden Features My Garden

I love growing beetroot and this year I just went to the TopVeg website to remind myself of the seed sowing details that they are so good at providing.

Farming Friends & TopVeg have now collaborated to create a How To Grow Beetroot growing card.

Click on the image to enlarge and if you wish to print off this growing card, right click on the enlarged image and then click print picture to print out a copy.

If you would like this document as a pdf, just contact farmingfriends and I will email you the document.

I intend to print off copies and then laminate the sheet so that I can use the growing card with my school gardening club in the future.

Teachers, children, vegetable growers and anyone interested in growing beetroot are welcome to print off this growing card for their own use.

Other growing cards we have already created;

• How To Grow Garlic.
• How To Grow Lettuce.
• How To Grow Summer Radish.

If you have any other growing cards that you would like Farming Friends & TopVeg to create then please leave a comment and we will be happy to create it for you.

Beetroot Growing Cards Homegrown vegetables Vegetables

On Saturday I harvested the previously flooded beetroot and pickled it for the produce show which is in two weeks time.

Although the beetroot my family planted when they came to stay in May was submerged in flood water for a week, it has managed to survive. Not only has it survived, but it’s thrived.

So on Saturday I decided to harvest three of the plants and pickle the beetroot for the produce show.

When beetroot is ready to harvest you will be able to see the root vegetable sticking out of the ground. When you think that the beetroot is a good size just loosen the soil around the root and gently pull up the beetroot. Shake off any excess soil on the roots and chop the leaves off.

Only harvest the required amount of beetroot as this is a vegetable that can stay in the ground until you are ready to harvest or harvest lots of beetroot and pickle some of it to use at a later date. Click on this link for how to pickle beetroot.

If you too want to have a successful beetroot harvest then follow the growing advice provided by TopVeg.

Beetroot Flooding Gardening jobs Homegrown vegetables Vegetables

Today I planted some radish seeds and transplanted some broccoli and beetroot that had survived the flood. After digging the ground and planting the seeds and seedlings, I decided to mulch around the potato ducts that I am using to protect me plants from wildbirds, my poultry and my cats. The weeds grow pretty quick in my garden and after reading an article by My Grandpas Garden and TopVeg I was convinced that I had the solution. Both recommend using newspaper with straw on top because not only will this keep the weeds at bay but will also help reduce the need for frequent watering. I think this is a great idea as I have plenty of newspaper and straw and anything that will help get rid of the weeds in my garden and reduce the amount of time I spend watering the plants when it is sunny is excellent in my book. Thanks Michelle and TopVeg, I now have three rows of veggies surrounded by newspaper and straw mulch.

Recycling

It is just under two weeks to the village produce show and as I am now on the committee I felt that I should offer my help. The offer was accepted in the form of delivering reminder leaflets to the residents of the village. I have to say that this job was reminiscent of having a paper round in my teens. Dodging barking dogs, wrestling with difficult letter boxes and struggling to open gates were memories that quickly came flooding back as I trekked around the village carrying the pile of leaflets that never seemed to go down!

One thing that I don’t recall from my newspaper delivering days was the high security intercom at the gate. This high tech security system is installed at a number of gates in our village. I made an executive decision that on a Saturday afternoon these security conscious residents would not want to be disturbed with a reminder of the village produce show so they did not receive a leaflet.

This year is the 18th annual village produce show and my third show. I did really well with my entries last year and even won a trophy for the arts and crafts section. I had better get preparing my entries for this years show as I would like to win a trophy again. Will post later how my show preparations are coming along.

Village Produce Show