The real start of winter?

Today seemed like the real start of winter, as Gary from Nutbourne Nurseries came in with the last tomato delivery of the year. Always sad to see the end of the lovely local tomatoes, but Gary cheered me up with the news that the seedlings for next year’s crop are already 4 inches tall and coming on nicely!

We don’t have the luxury of heated greenhouses like Nutbourne, so our planting for next year can’t be quite so precocious, but 1,000 spring cabbage plants will keep the team busy this week, filling one of our polytunnels ready for a March crop. Two crops, in fact, as we’ll harvest some early as loose spring greens, then wait for the rest to heart up for a later crop of cabbage. Outside in the strip beds, the broad beans and early peas are already in, securely netted (we hope!) against the pheasants which seem to be everywhere at the moment.

With Spring in mind, I’ve also ordered hundreds of tulip bulbs in different shapes and colours, to plant in raised beds we’re planning to build behind the car park. These will be our new herb garden, with bulbs and edible flowers interplanted with the culinary herbs. But if all this talk of Spring sounds strange in the run-up to Christmas, rest assured… we’re also busy making plans for next year’s Brussels sprout crop!