This is @bristolseedswap I'm just about recovered from the tiring but lovely day on Sunday that saw 800+ people come to @bristoltrinity to share and swap seeds they'd grown or had as surplus. We're committed to keeping it a FREE event and run on donations, stall fees and the cafe income only. It's all about getting people growing and seed saving and all of us involved believe that money should not be a barrier to this. We accept no sponsorship from companies. It's a beautiful DIY thing to be part of and if anyone wants to be involved next year, please let me know. We need over 50 volunteers each year. The energy of volunteers + seed lovers = a wonderful day. Thanks all. Especially to Diane, Nikki and Jess, without whom the event simply wouldn't exist.

Parsnips replanting for seed today. I planted out half a bed of Thrupp Landrace parsnips after selecting them back at Christmas time from the veg bag harvests. I kept them in dryish old compost in crates in the barn and today was the day I replanted at about 40cm apart. They'll (🤞) throw up big flower spikes in spring and the insects will love the huge heads of flowers, like landing pads. Then they'll go brown and dry out (again 🤞) and I'll collect loads of seed for use over the next few years. I have found the old rule about parsnip seed needing to be 1 year old, maybe 2 tops, to be untrue. These very parsnips were grown with 3-4 year old seed and this year's new sowing (May usually) will be 4-5 year old seed. We'll see how it goes. I'm relying on this commercially, which shows I'm fairly confident in the result. It may be just because it's a landrace, but I suspect few people ever bother checking old 'wisdom' is actually wise. The books just repeat what someone else has said.

Why use landraces or flocks instead of single varieties? Comparison of direct sown broad beans sown 7th Nov. Aquadulce Claudia in the top half and our own Mendip Rainbow flock in the bottom half - I shouldn't really call it a Landrace yet as I've only been growing it for 4 generations. I suspect 7 is enough. Otherwise known as 'diverse populations', flocks and landraces are really interesting. They are a mix of varieties grown together with the intention of crossing. This is done to get a broad genetic diversity, rather than risking planting a narrow set of genetics. What you get over time is a crop that adapts to your local environmental conditions and is also much more able to survive shocks. All ancient grains and many ancient vegetables were once diverse populations. In the race to increase yields (for better and worse, depending) single varieties with narrow, inbred genetics have become the norm for growing in the industrial agricultural parts of the world. But landraces hang on at the margins. And they're easy to create yourself, it just takes a few years of saving seed, really. I'm aware this is not a scientific study, but a normal market garden scale trial. Still, pretty convincing, I'd say. We grow landraces like the Thrupp parsnip and are working on others not because it's some sweet little project, but because they work. They are safer options for a gardener or small farmer who isn't part of the commodity-based ag system. A reliable crop is more important than a high-yield, high-risk crop that needs mollycoddling. If you're into diverse population growing, then feel free to email me - I love to chat about such things and I can put you in contact with a whole network of similarly-minded growers. Also, if you're in Bristol on 11th Feb, @bristolseedswap is welcoming @adventuresinseedandsoil who will be talking about all things Landrace. See you there.

What a frosty week. Anna spent a lot of time making dried flower bunches and wreaths and I did various errands, seed-related things and cooked lots of stews. Winter sun, goodbye again, we were happy to see you. We'll be @winscombecommunitymarket tomorrow as usual for the 3rd Sat of the month. We'll have some lovely winter greens (spinach, salad, kale and chard) along with Anna's lovely dried flower creations. All flowers grown or foraged from around Two Acre Farm.

One of my favourite days of the year. Come along for some great talks, lots of seeds or a good natter with other gardeners and growers. It's busy, friendly and FULL of seedy things. Free entry. Yes it's something that's actually free! No really.

Best thing I heard at ORFC this year: "We have been selectively breeding farmers for generations." Plenty to keep me thinking, but I also thought it was missing something this year. I will reflect on that. The 'Changing the Narrative...' talk was my favourite. Brilliant. Motivational as usual and great to catch up with some people I only see once a year. Now onto another growing year.

The kids were with us for the final harvest of the year today so they made friends with Rob (our friendly robin), trampolines and made Christmas messages with the produce. Merry Christmas to everyone and see you in 2024.

@winscombecommunitymarket 9 - 1pm today.

We're still doing veg bags, almost all still coming from our field. The weather has been so awful that I haven't taken many pics recently, but we're still here. We grow, over the year, 95 - 98% of the veg portions we provide to our customers. When we buy in, we ensure it's from organic farms as locally as possible. I still love growing veg and getting to know our customers. I've never felt like we're a normal business; we're veg growers and our customers swap their skills (in the form of money) for ours. What that means is that we engage with people as equals and once you have that attitude, it makes all the difference to being happy and content with your work.

Customers: we have been unable to wash your veg today due to frozen pipes. Apologies for that. It's still lovely stuff. We are trying to get parsnips out the ground right now! We'll do our best.

The frosts are coming. Due Friday night here. So it's time to get the squash indoors (rather than in the barn or polytunnel. I could risk the barn, but it's not ideal, which for squash is consistently around 10C and dry - an unheated, airy room is good. Butternuts can keep for months more, but most of these will go to customers around Xmas. Amoro and sweet dumpling don't usually keep past January. The sweet potato squash is a new one for us and was productive and tasty, so we'll be growing it a good deal more next year.

Rhubarb (grown from seed in 2021). The gardening books, not to mention garden TV shows, usually say something like, "remember to remove dying rhubarb leaves and tidy up the plants for winter". But here's what happens if you don't: they make their own weed-suppressing mulch and I expect the strong oxalic acid in the leaves is what kills most of the weeds as they rot. The second plant in the row died this year, so you can see the difference - a weedy patch. We have hardly ever weeded this bed.

Mendip Rainbow Broad beans are up and, as I had a nightmare about deer munching them all, I decided to cover them with enviromesh today. That favours the voles, which is why I've not done it so far. Hopefully the voles won't realise they have a roof protecting them from owls until the broad beans are big enough to look after themselves. Phew. I'm always trying to get to know the habits and patterns of local animals. Patterns are everywhere when you watch closely.

@winscombecommunitymarket now until 1pm. Lots of lovely veg picked yesterday afternoon for super freshness. We never use chemicals and we are increasing biodiversity on our field all the time. 🙂

Bit better weather than last Monday. The celery and celeriac are loving all the rain. Harvest today for veg bags as usual. Lovely quality. Still 100% our own veg going into veg bags, but will have to buy potatoes soon as this year gave us a smaller crop than normal. Millions of carrots still, though.

Harvesting leeks in the rain. The last week has been hard at times. That day - Monday - might even have been one of 2 or 3 days per year when I'd rather work in an office. Then the sun came out today and it was beautiful and there was no place I'd rather be.

Hello garlic. You seem to do the opposite of most other plants, but we love you for it. In the main poly, spinach and coriander rule, although the 1st cucumbers are somehow still producing. Don't understand why, but I'm not complaining. Passandra F1 is the best and only variety we grow. Can't fault it

Lovely Autumn veg bags going out the gate today. Colourful, nutritious, tasty, fresh. Including the first of our own dried borlotti beans. We got a bumper crop this year - over 13kg from one bed (approx 18m²), hung to dry and threshed by hand (and foot). Not efficient in time or money, but a pleasure and something I hope I always find time to do.

We're @winscombecommunitymarket until 1pm today.

Grey and foggy and wet. Garlic planting was an effort yesterday, but they're in. 2 beds. Might do more if I have some time. The calabrese is great this autumn and the outdoor spinach is just about ready. Our veg bag customers are happy 🙂

On Sunday 8th Oct we had our annual squash and pumpkin harvest get together. Loads of people came and it was great fun as usual. A job that would take me all day on my own and give me a very bad back is a party when it's shared. Just as harvests should be. We were done in an hour and then it was cider and cake. Totals: 711kg approx which is much less than last year (1.8 tonnes) on only slightly less growing space. Over 530kg of pumpkins are included in that. The weather makes such a difference. And the last photo is of the new world record for a single pumpkin. Crazy.

Beautiful autumnal veg bags went out to customers today. And lovely flowers, too. We deliver to a small set of villages around Winscombe in Somerset. We use virtually no fossil fuels as we have no tractor and deliver by electric van. We ensure our two acre field is increasing in biodiversity and we don't muck around with offsetting - we do these things because they're the right things to do. Oh yeah, and our veg is picked fresh on the morning of delivery, we use no chemicals, just the sun, rain and soil... and we love what we do. If you'd like to have a trial veg bag, or enquire about small-scale wholesale, check the link in our bio.

Tonight was the annual pesto night. I harvested loads of basil today at the farm. We eat quite a bit with pasta and the kids love it, so, a bucket of basil leaves went into some lovely homemade pesto for the winter and spring. Some for the freezer, some jarred properly. It's a bit of work unless you have an industrial blender. Anyway, lovely smell, lovely taste and quite satisfying. Especially with a glass of red wine and crusty bread to mop up the leftovers. 🙂

Closest to a tractor we use at Two Acre Farm. Here using the BCS shredder to mulch down 4 beds of excellent diverse cover crop at the flowering stage. The beds are now covered with a tarp to start to rot down. These will then be garlic and early broad bean beds that I'll plant in about a month's time. The tillage radish particularly (like daikon) are 20cm long and rot quickly, bringing in worms and getting the composting going. And I planted the first spinach and fennel in the polytunnel today after clearing a bed of toms which was past decent production. Every year I regret not getting more spinach in in Sept, always because I'm too attached to the tomatoes. 😢

Pea beans. I got a bout 10 of these pea beans @bristolseedswap last year and they were so pretty, I thought I'd bulk up the seed for more growing and cooking. They are reputedly a very tasty bean and I'm looking forward to trying them soon. Aren't they just lovely?

@winscombecommunitymarket now until 1pm

Cleared the borlotti beans this week. Last year I got just under 8kg of threshed beans from a 25m x 0.75m bed. With all the rain this summer, I'm expecting more. I love having them hung up in the barn, with drying flowers and racks of onions and garlic. There's something very pretty and comforting about it.

September goodness, including Thai basil and lemongrass for the best Thai green curry. In this country we tend to just get the woody stalks and pay £2 or £3 in the supermarket for them. I am told by a friend who grew up using lemongrass that the green leaves are the best bit and the woody bits are exported to Europe and the US! The leaves add that gorgeous flavour to stews, teas or meat\squash if stuffed. Lovely.

Lots of lovely veg freshly harvested for you @chewstokeharvesthome until 5pm

Aren't tomatoes beautiful? Varieties Purple Rain and Sakura.

Beautiful late August bag of veg. This is our large bag this week. 100% our own grown veg as usual, 100% picked on the morning of delivery as usual. We do SMALL bags, REGULAR and LARGE, as well as flowers, extra veg at wholesale prices and local apple juice. Seasonal, super fresh, agroecological, delivered to your door by electric van. Cheaper than you'd think. See link in bio if you're interested in our bags. We deliver to villages near to the farm in the Mendip hills.

Back in May I lost these 4 beds to weeds as they were brassicas overwinter and weeding them just got put to the bottom of the list. But all was not lost. Photo 1 is the cover crop mix of phacelia, clover, tillage radish, buckwheat and a couple of other things today. I haven't decided whether to leave it overwinter or to shred it down and plant the late crops like garlic and broad beans yet. Either way, the soil health will be high without ploughing or additions of compost\manure. The last time these beds had compost\manure added was 2 years ago. Photos 2, 3 and 4 are of the same beds on May 18th, when I shredded and covered. An amazing recovery and largely weed free now, 3 months later.

We'll be @winscombecommunitymarket tomorrow 9 - 1 with all these goodies and more. Please come along and FILL YOUR FREEZER with summer goodness. Corn cobs only £1 each, beautiful, delicious heirloom tomatoes and absolutely perfect green beans among many other lovely veggies. See you at the Winscombe Community Centre.

It's been a good season for beans so far. Loads and loads of green beans. Glad I sowed lots for drying this year. The hazel towers in the background each have a different drying bean on for trials and bulking seed up from small packets from @bristolseedswap and friends, and I sowed a load of borlotti as normal, too. Big, nutritious beans with colour in winter. Now we need a dry Sept to mature the beans.

Annual overly-emotive tomato appreciation video

Yesterday we held our first willow weaving day and I think I caught the bug. I have been doing little else but weaving the leftover willow whips since (see last pic). My hands are aching now. I would really like one day to get rid of all the plastic crates we use for harvesting and moving veg around. It feels so right using willow. Whether you're into ancestral skills or just like the feeling of using your hands and focusing on something in front of you. I have this idea of doing a multiday willow camp at the field where a few of us camp and cook and weave. I have no idea how many people may be interested, so if it sounds good to you, message me and it may actually happen one day.

Our West Papuan friends came to the farm this week and we had a great party with lots of other friends invited. They showed us how to make a Bakar Batu ground oven using the land around us - tall reeds to line the pit, rocks from the hills around us were cooked on a fire, then placed in a wall around the pit (using split hazel rods cut for the purpose) then damp, freshly scythed grass, then veg wrapped in chard and pumpkin leaves (corn, beans and potatoes from the farm and sweet potato, taro, cassava and yam from a specialist shop), and pork from a local smallholder too, we're placed in amongst the hot rocks. This was all wrapped up in more reeds, leaves and grass and a couple of hours later we had a huge feast of oven-steamed veg cooked perfectly and we ate and partied into the night. It was one of the best days we've had on the farm or off and we promise to do it again next year. Absolutely wonderful. I hope everyone gets the chance to do this in their life - it's not just a meal; working together with everyone to feed 50 people brings everyone closer and happier. And now, the only sign it ever happened is a scorch on the ground! #freewestpapua #bakarbatu

We actually had a dry day yesterday, so I could finally get some hoeing done. The rain has been the problem this summer - the opposite of last year. Our soil is thankfully very well drained, so flooding is not a problem, it's just that the weeds have gone mad. But there are advantages to this weather. I have saved a lot of time by direct sowing more than usual and have got excellent germination. We're not going to be short of carrots this autumn-winter. Or beetroot. I expect potatoes will be large, too.

Just a few of the tomato varieties we're growing (with pleasure) this year. Cascade Lava Berkely Tie Dye Pink Burratino Paul Robeson Gigantimo Sgt Peppers Lovely, beautiful, delicious, gorgeous diversity ❤️💚

Nearing peak tomato now, despite the lack of sun. They seem pretty happy. The warm nights really help, and the relatively windy conditions dry out moisture on the leaves, meaning fungal problems like blights don't form 🤞 Having said that, outside, the moist weather has made mushrooms appear all over the place. I ate some tasty giant puffball last night. I left one to spore last year and this year there was a partial ring of them around last year's spot. Lovely.

We had a lovely time at The Land Skills Fair 2023. Thanks all who made it happen. Rain only dampened us a bit. It really made me appreciate the energy, community and dedication of landworkers, artists, craftspeople and organisers. Mostly aiming in the same direction. 💚

This is the tomato variety (F1 only so far) that I've bred by crossing 2 purple varieties last year. I'm calling it Purple Rain as I'm a Prince fan and, well, they're raindrop shaped and there's loads of them on each plant and they're super purple! They have a rich, deep flavour which is as good or better than the parents. I'm very happy with it. Especially as it's my first DIY tomato. As you'll know if you're into DIY plant breeding, seed saving or genetics, the F2 (i.e. 2nd generation) will be much less regular than the F1 and it may well take until F7 to get a stable variety. However, I'm playing around with the genetics by using 3 growing strategies: 1) I have more F1 seed, so I know I can have more like this. 2) I will grow the F2 in large amounts (even weird ones will be edible and I might get some even nicer ones if I accept the randomness). Realistically, some will be good and I'll select those for the F3, but some will be less good. 3) I have already backcrossed this F1 with my favourite of the parents to try to get my favourite elements of both - we'll see.

Onion harvest 2023 done. Phew. An excellent crop this year and the sturon from seed seems to have done better than the the red karmen from sets. I've been waiting for a couple of dry days in a row so the leaves would be dry enough. The opposite problem of last year, when everything was too dry and didn't swell. Thanks James for your help.

@winscombecommunitymarket now until 2pm. Tomatoes are going fast

I'm using a crop mix I haven't tried before this year. I had a patchy fenugreek cover crop bed and so I planted out kale into it knowing that I could cut the fenugreek at about the stage you see it now. That leaves the leguminous roots in the soil to rot and feed the kale later in the year. In theory. It seems to work so I just sowed a direct line of cavalo Nero kale with an Earthway seeder in a cleared bed and then rows of fenugreek either side. Hopefully this bed will give 2 crops and the summer crop of fenugreek will help the kale. I have a small outlet for fenugreek, but if you're a home gardener and like Indian food, it's a wonderful dried addition to curries and dahls. Just hang up a bunch to dry until crispy and then put in a jar to keep. Lovely scent from the dry leaves. Known as methi in Indian cooking. Rabbits love fenugreek, though, so it needs protection. Never direct sowed kale before, so I have some backup seedlings. But it's perfect direct sowing weather at the moment (warmish and wet) so I thought I'd save time. 🤞

Current pile next to my bed. Which means I'm reading them, but dipping in and out and maybe finishing one when I feel like it. Anyone read any of these?

You know summer's really here when the tomatoes arrive. And first aubergines, today too. Basil cropping well now and beautiful courgettes. This is our Large veg bag today. Delivered to doors in the villages around us. Virtually no fossil fuels used in growing or deliveries. Biodiversity is central to our growing strategy. Single link supply chain. Fresher than supermarkets can hope to supply. And a very reasonable price. We still have a couple of places left on our delivery list if you're interested. It's a lovely time to cook and experiment with different fresh foods - everything is top quality this time of year and flavours are at their best. Try a Caprese salad and you'll see that with fresh, flavourful ingredients, you don't need complicated recipes and pomegranate molasses! Tomatoes, basil, oil, mozorella and salt. Delicious.

I think we'll have our first proper harvest of tomatoes for our customers on Friday! You lucky people. Not enough for everyone yet however 😢 I make sure everyone gets some in the first few weeks of tomato season, so fret not.

Lovely crops from the Americas growing together at Two Acre Farm: corn, beans, squash, potatoes. All wonderfully productive and tasty. And just inside the poly are the tomatoes. What would we do without these vegetables?!

Friday's large veg bag was HEAVY today. Those caulis were beasts up to 1.8kg each! Getting to the end of the broad beans now. Perhaps 1 or 2 more pickings.

Soldier beetle orgy at 9am 😊

Great calabrese broc today. Totally not worth it to us in money terms, but everyone loves it and it's not much effort for big heads of goodness. They went in most of the bags today, delivered about two hours after picking. Beat that, supermarkets! Also sowed carrots today and crossed my fingers.

First salsa of the year! This makes me very happy. I have tried making salsa to store over winter many times and it's always a poor imitation. Fresh is the only way. The chillis are still lacking spice, but the toms and coriander are gorgeous. White onions are also perfect this time of year - before drying out (overgrown spring onions are great). In my view this is the Queen of foods and I try to eat it every day in summer with plenty of variations. Salsa Verde is a particular favourite. Our veg bag customers will benefit from my Mexican food addiction soon, when the bulk of the dozen tomato varieties, the tomatillos and the chillis are ready for a proper harvest.

Busy treble harvest day today. Veg bags as usual + @winscombesaturdaymarket 9 - 1pm Sat, then Burrington Fete 2pm onwards. Phew.

Tomato breeding 2023. The toms are getting it on! With a little help from me. Having produced an F1 last year by crossing two tomato varieties, I want to keep most of the good features of one of those varieties. One is better than the other, in other words. The way to do that is by backcrossing, possibly a few times (recurrent backcrossing) over generations and selecting. I'm learning this from reading Carole Deppe's books, particularly. Anyone interested in taking gardening to a more advanced level, she's the way to go in my view. 90% of garden books out there are aimed at beginners, so they get a bit samey. Carole, though, is a brilliant writer, gardener and geneticist and writes books that I go back to again and again. An aside or two because of arguments around this subject: plant breeding like this is playing with genetics, yes, but it is categorically NOT genetic modification. This is Gregor Mendel style classical plant breeding that anyone can do at home. And secondly, F1s are not evil. They are an inevitable step to producing useful varieties. When growers like me say 'You can't keep the seed from F1s', it's not strictly true, it's just shorthand because the true answer requires a bit more understanding of genetics. Corporations take advantage of the F1 complications to make money from selling really expensive seed. In some crops (brassicas) that is quite a useful service, though I avoid giving money to corporations when I can. But with tomatoes, I am convinced that a good OP variety is as good as a proprietary F1. There seems no real advantage to F1s in toms. And because you can grow it yourself for free, you can save a lot of money over years of gardening.

Welcome back tomatoes. I've missed you. My first salsa of the year will be in a week or so by the look of things. Even a few chillis are looking ready. Stupice variety beat the other 10 varieties I'm growing to be the earliest for the second year in a row. Delicious and open pollinated, so easy to keep seed from. I recommend this variety as the best all rounder. If I only grew one tom, this would be it. Early, tasty, productive and good for many uses. They'll be in our veg bags as soon as we get enough of a crop. In the mean time, I'll enjoy the beginning of the bell curve of production and get going with my Mexican cooking. Yum.

Here's me in the Mendip Rainbow broad bean patch. Picking so many at the moment. Crates and crates. It's a joy in the sun. We still have a few spaces on our veg bag delivery list if you'd like to try. You won't be disappointed with the freshness and quality of our veg. All grown with biodiversity as a central strategy - yes, not just a nice extra, but our strategy for resilient supply and healthy soil. We also believe we're now carbon neutral or even negative, and not because of offsetting (i.e. creative accounting)!

Cover crop shredding today. Various mixes, but the mustard, phacelia and Persian clover, sown exactly 2 months ago, has been the most beautiful (and popular with the bees).

Such a beautiful plant in the morning sun.

The last winter squash went out today, under the sweetcorn. To the right of the pic you see beans too. Why didn't I plant beans with the corn to make the famous 'Three Sisters' system? That was a great, low-maintenance system for the varieties and local climates and situations in parts of North America, but I haven't found it works well in the UK. The idea of beans' nitrogen feeding the other crops seems unlikely to me, too. Or at least over-stated. The beans' roots would only let go of their nitrogen when they die, so they have use for following crops, but not really for companion crops. Unless there is a specific symbiotic biological relationship I haven't read about. But the companioning of squash and corn here, I think will work, making 2 space-inefficient crops work together, freeing up space even if they don't really help each other directly. Broadly, I find the concept of companion planting a bit over-done. Crops can certainly compliment each other in space terms, in attractiveness terms and in terms of bringing in polinators, but I don't think there is much basis for many of the companions garden writers often go on about.

Fantastic new potatoes and broad beans today. A pleasure to pick in the sun. We're harvesting top quality beetroot now too. The spinach is about over, though, until the summer (NZ) spinach comes in in about July.

First cucumber harvested today. Sown 13\4\23. 17 days earlier than last year. The last 2 weeks of sun has made them go for it. I only planted them out about 2 weeks ago!

First beetroot of the season and the broad beans are ramping up. Outdoor new potatoes should be about ready end of the week, too. 2nd pic is a beautiful LARGE veg bag delivered today. Only potatoes were bought in, the rest was grown here at Two Acre Farm. Feeling like we're out of the hungry gap here, but I know how lucky we are to be on a South facing slope on well drained soil in Somerset!

Green and proud. Today's lovely spring veg bag. This is a regular for £14. First proper picking of broad beans. We're at peak asparagus, too - so every customer got a portion today. The only things not grown by our field are the potatoes. Enjoy.

Broad beans are in! Woohoo. Overwintered Aquadulce Claudia and my Mendip Rainbows will be following in the next couple of weeks or so.

Up a ladder this morning taping up minor poly damage and re-doing hot spot tape inside (sweaty). Don't often get that view of the farm, so I thought I'd take a vid. Such perfect weather right now. Every seed you chuck in wants to grow in this weather. Lovely. Lots of cover crops and beans in. First winter crop in this week too: a bed and a half of celeriac. It was excellent last year and I wished I'd planted more, so... this year I did.

Our little ones were getting involved today. We planted out a bed of courgettes and a bed of celeriac. Planning for winter already!

An hour and a quarter left of @winscombesaturdaymarket We have loads of cucumber plants and courgette plants, and the last of the chillis and toms for sale.

Sometimes you lose some beds to weeds. To keep from getting depressed I'm calling it a trial. These beds had Brussels and purple sprouting in and then just got away from me. I had to wait for the psb to finish before I could clear them, so there didn't seem any point in weeding. Then they just went crazy with every weed you could imagine. I partly blame the clover cover crop I undersowed - it hid the weeds for too long. But anyway. I shredded it all today, watered it and covered. I have a feeling the soil will be pretty good, but it'll need a couple of months to rot. Then I'll have the results of my 'trial'.

That's the toms and chillis in for the season. Cukes next week. The spinach is absolutely peaking right now - we cooked a big saag paneer today to take advantage of buckets of it. Delicious. Lovely veg bags went out today with the first new potatoes from the poly, too + a sprig of mint.

First veg bags of the year went out to our customers today. Lovely purple sprouting, asparagus and mangetout among other tasty seasonal veg. We're now part of the Ooooby network, making it easier to order and organise. Thanks @ooooby_platform https://twoacrefarm.ooooby.org/

The flowers are slow this spring, but with a little creativity, something can be created from what's around the farm. White dead nettles, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, ranunculus and cow parsley.

Second attempt at Early Nantes carrots. I sowed several weeks ago in damp weather, but it may have been too cold. Poor germination meant I had to resow today. Shortly before heavy rain and a bit warmer, so hopefully they'll take this time. Carrots at this scale are really quite hard, I think.

First toms in today. 15x Stupice which proved to be quite cold hardy and very early fruiting in our trial last year. Fleeced for tonight. Should eat the first tomato at the end of June.

Asparagus YES

Purple sprouting broc Asparagus Spinach Rhubarb Tomato plants Chilli plants Herbs + herb plants Perennial veg plants Leeks All on sale at our stall tomorrow @winscombesaturdaymarket 9am - 1pm

A few mesh covers and tarps were pulled off by the storm yesterday. Bricks and even some 20kg gravel bags were thrown onto plants, but a couple of snapped broad beans were the only damage. The rain gauge said 13Litres of rain per square metre of the field fell in a few hours. The sun and the wind meant it was perfect weather for hoeing today, so I got a few hours done.

I was weeding the polytunnel today as it was chucking it down outside and I stopped to look down and counted 6 different plants in the space of a hand. I pulled them out and realised there was a lovely diversity in our spinach bed. There were also ants, ladybirds, tiny spiders and a black beetle which was eaten by a wren while I watched. Although we have to sell the crops (spinach in this case) to survive, my inefficient approach to weeding (i.e. not finding time to hoe enough and therefore ending up having to handweed later) leads to a nice healthy biodiversity. Not so many pretty looking lines. I'll try to look on the bright side next time I'm on my knees again, cursing nettles and dandelions. It's also lovely sometimes to just stop and appreciate the miniature rainforest we call weedy beds! I never weed 100% clear like some. A rough going over now and again leaves a little more life and it just seems healthier. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Keeping faith that diversity is strength.

Spring may be a little damp and slow this year (as opposed to the dry sunny last couple of Marches), but it was lovely planting weather today. Fennel and Kohl rabi went out and another patch of vole-cleared ground was opened up for growing. They do the work of a small tractor over a few months and then, as long as there's long grass nearby, move on. All the surrounding fields are ploughed and reseeded for grazing, so they have very small vole populations. They're not a pest for us. #volelove #voletractor

WOODCHIP COMPOST TRIAL RESULTS. Homemade woodchip compost made from free woodchip left in a pile for 2 years. Free. V Industry standard quality tray substrate, Klasmann Peat Free (over £10+VAT per 70l bag). I don't use peat-based composts and have never felt the need to. Peat is unnecessary in market gardening. It's as simple as that. However, peat free options have gone up over 25% in price over the last year, so I wanted to trial woodchip compost made from sieved woodchip (see post 26th Jan 2023), which I hoped would save me hundreds of pounds per year by obviating the need to buy expensive composts. In the salad trial in Feb, there was no discernable difference in growth, but the brassicas stay in their trays a bit longer, so I wanted to try them in the woodchip compost. Result: In the early stages, there was no difference in growth, but the Klasmann-grown seedlings overtook the woodchip ones in the last week or 10 days. The woodchip-grown plants are about 20% smaller in height and leaf growth. Conclusions: Woodchip compost is great and free apart from time taken making it. We will use it for faster growing plants like salads, but not for brassicas and alliums that need to stay in trays longer. For that, we'll continue to pay the fee for the quality stuff for now. But woodchip should halve our use. Note: Nothing was added after sowing in the composts, so it is possible that a seaweed feed could make the difference at about week 3 or 4. It's worth another trial, I think.

@winscombesaturdaymarket tomorrow 9am - 1pm. We will have our first purple sprouting broccoli and rhubarb of the year along with kale, spinach, coriander and a few other seasonal goodies to fight off the colds, flu and duldrums. We'll also have the first of the tomato and chilli seedlings, some herbs and some unusual perennial vegetable plants for the keen gardeners around here.

It's coming. Asparagus won't be ready for @winscombesaturdaymarket in a week's time, but soon. Such a drizzly day today, the baby plants need some sun now. Spent a couple of hours pricking out tomatoes today. We will have a few larger, earlier ones for sale at market, but most are for the April market or for our polytunnel.

I really doubt I'll ever get fed up with sowing seeds. It's a sort of magical appreciation of the present moment: the seeds represent the choices and knowledge of our ancestors in physical form. All of their choices of what plants to select and carefully save the seed from are contained in the seed's DNA. The future will depend on what comes from the seed that those plants will make and what is bred from it, including how it feeds our children and theirs. The moment in the middle is us dropping it into moist soil and crossing our fingers. I can strongly recommend to anyone to try saving seeds. Most of your ancestors managed it, so don't think it's beyond you. Read a bit and then use your intuition. It's a wonderful process and it will make you happy in a long term way that not much else does. Maybe having children, which is of course, rather similar in many ways! 1st carrot bed sown today with the Earthway. Soil is 7°C at 5cm and 4.5°C at 15cm. Carrots find 7°C about perfect to germinate. And the 2nd pic is a polytunnel's worth of tomato plants in a tray the size of a sheet of A4. Simply magic.

Been in training all winter. 🙂

Growing veg with voles rather than in spite of them... After clearing with a tarp on the grass for a few months, you want to ensure or encourage them to move out into the grass, which is their natural home and food source anyway. They love it under the tarp as it's warmer, drier and they're safe from the owls. Take it off and they'll get the message. But it's best not to put seed in until you're sure they've moved on.

It's spring in the polytunnel and the spinach and coriander love it! Absolutely beautiful quality at the moment. Mangetout growing well, too. Likely late April first picking. Contact me for any small-scale wholesale enquiries.

@winscombesaturdaymarket until 1pm

Just some of the veg and herbs we'll be selling tomorrow @winscombesaturdaymarket We'll also have lots of small pots of coriander, parsley, licorice mint, chervil and some perennial veg plants too. 9 - 1pm Saturday.

Farming with our 'vole-plough' method. Every year I do a vid on this in the hope others see the method as viable. All of our beds were created in this way. Here's how it works. Cut the grass down short then lay a tarp over it to exclude the light as much as possible. If you have a healthy vole population (i.e. no-one's ploughed or dug your soil for several years and they've moved in) they find the tarp a lovely place to move in to: protected from owls, plenty of their favourite food - grass roots - and warmer and drier than out in the open. Leave it a few months. Checking every now and again. When you take the tarp off, the voles will have dug winter tunnels (and so draining the land) will have eaten all of the grass and weeds (yes, really) and will also have tunneled around shallowly which makes the soil nice and friable. All we do then is wheelbarrow manure and compost on top. It really works. If you find evidence of voles on your land, don't think of them as a pest. Give them a chance to help you out! We lose a few beetroot and a few radish to them every year. Never more than 5% of our crops. They tend to keep away from the open beds, probably out of fear of the owls and hawks, which we encourage too. Keeps a balance. If you want to talk to me about the details or come to see Two Acre Farm, please message. I'm happy to help. The 'vole-plough' method works with soil biodiversity and kills no voles, as ploughing does. I love using it.

Bristol Seed Swap yesterday was great as usual. One of my favourite events of the year. This year I'm stoked to have got some of @caerhysorganic 's black oats... Along with many other lovingly saved seeds. Thanks to all who keep the seeds coming. And massive thanks to Diane Holness who works incredibly hard at coordinating it all. Deserves a medal, she does.

Pea planting out today. Over the last year, a builder friend has been getting hold of 'waste' guttering so I can use them like this. For peas, in this case Heraut mangetout. I hang them from the roof of the poly to keep rodents away until germinated and today was planting out day. They slide out into a shallow trench quite well and this keeps the delicate taproots from breaking as often happens with tray-grown peas. Let's just hope the mice don't find them before they start growing strongly.

Bit nippy out today, so it seemed a good day to clean and tidy the small poly along with sowing the first bulk of seeds of 2023: spring onions, spring greens, Pak choi and Mendip Rainbow broad beans. It's #seedweek and it's also @bristolseedswap this weekend where I'll be on the seeds-in table attempting to sort the chaotic influx of seeds and get them to you on the seed tables. Hope you can make it. Thanks @swseedsovuk for the Mendip Rainbow plug. If anyone wants some, I'll happily send you a packet. Just message.

First of the new potatoes went in today. Soil temp in the poly was 9°C. Even with frosts forecast, the potatoes will be fine. They won't be up for a couple of weeks and even when they are, as long as their leaves are dry, they're tougher than most people think. And we have fleece if it really drops. Not worth it outdoors yet, but these early ones provide a valuable crop in May.