Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Sun and potatoes, finally, in April
It was gorgeous at the farm today. The air was still chilled but the sun made up for it with its warmth and it really began to feel like summer might one day come. The soil is warming up and we will soon begin to plant things outside. Good Friday is the traditional time for planting potatoes, but not this year – we would have consigned our seed potatoes to an icy grave had we done so. Perhaps we won’t even get them in before May, since the nights are still so cold.
We have had so many people coming to the farm recently, and it is making such a difference – whereas in the past couple of years, we have struggled to get even the basic tasks done, now we have the luxury of doing the frilly bits round the edges, building and filling new raised beds, building benches and fruit cages, putting wood chips on the polytunnel paths, and we’re even planning to plant some flowers in front of the polytunnel. It feels like we’re moving forward, like we’re becoming properly established, a real community farm.
Two weeks later: We put the potatoes in on a sunny Sunday afternoon when it seemed like summer was on its way…. Then we had gales, hailstorms, lashing rain….