Greetings From the G and S Farm!
First of all, a belated Happy New Year to you all from the team here at G and S. We Hope you enjoyed the festive season.
As this is the first post of the new year, it's time to let you know our plans for the year, and for the next few years. Yes, we are that organised!
Currently the pigs are enjoying clearing out the old carrot beds ready for sowing in the spring. When the beds are clear, we can start our new crop rotation pattern.
First of all, a belated Happy New Year to you all from the team here at G and S. We Hope you enjoyed the festive season.
As this is the first post of the new year, it's time to let you know our plans for the year, and for the next few years. Yes, we are that organised!
Currently the pigs are enjoying clearing out the old carrot beds ready for sowing in the spring. When the beds are clear, we can start our new crop rotation pattern.
Crop rotation is essential for preserving the quality of the soil. Here are some details of what we are planning, and why we are doing it. We hope this interests you, because it will directly affect the food you get in your boxes of the coming months, and even years.
Our seven year crop rotation plans are now ready to be posted on the website.
Seven years is the recommended rotation for many reasons, the main ones being:
· To allow the ground to recover from hungry crops like Brassicas.
· To ensure a break between crops, hindering some of the crop pests and diseases.
· To restore and feed the soil.
· To incorporate farm yard manures as fertilisers.
· To inhibit weeds.
· To create clean grazing.
· To give us a wide variety of crops for your boxes.
Our fields will be divided up into several plots, and here we will plant our "field scale" (industry term...!) crops. In the walled garden we will also be planting more attention-seeking crops such as salad leaves.
In any one of our field scale plots, the following crop rotation will be running, starting from a different point on the cycle in each plot to maximize variety. an example of a rotation scheme for a single plot is as follows:
2009- Potatoes - Orla and Milva varieties - planted in May for harvest in October.
09-10 Pigs/Poultry - to remove the leftover potato plants and prepare the ground for the next crop. October to March
2010- Broad beans, sowed in April for harvest on August
10-11 Sprouting Broccoli. Both Purple and White, Sowed in August for harvest in May
2011 Salads. Celery, Chard, Lettuce and others, planted on May for October Harvest.
11-12 The Pigs and Poultry are back to finish off what's left. October to April
2012 Squash/Courgettes. Butternut and large hallowe'en types (such as crown prince). Planted in April for harvest in September/October.
12-13 Guess who're back? that's right, those all purpose waste disposal units, the pigs and poultry, from November to March
13-14 Root crops, such as Chanteray Carrots, Parsnips, Beetroot, turnip and Swede. Planted starting in March and continuing through the year, these will be harvested from October through to March, with the pigs following as the early crops are finished until there is nothing left.
14-15 Brassicas, such as Red, white, green, savoy and even winter cabbage! Planted starting in march and continuing to plant over the following weeks, and harvested from August onward until tehy are gone.
14-16 Following the cabbages, grass will be planted as an Organic soil improver. This will be in for up to a season and a half, taking us up to March of the 7th year in the cycle. Manure will be dug in in June to add fertility and organic matter, and the whole cycle will start again.
Well, I hope that wasn't too long and in depth, and that you found it interesting to know what we are up to now and in the future.
See you all Next time!
1 comment:
Great post - very interesting!
What are your main considerations when selecting the varieties of each crop to grow? Is it soil type, our wonderful Northern climate, whether some varieties work better with an organic upbringing than others, etc?
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