The timing of this post is an indication of the kind of weekend we’ve had. Another crazy race, this time against the heat. Which means installing sprinkler systems to water new transplants and rolling out drip irrigation lines where they had yet to be set out. You must be thinking, as you read this — following on previous fulsome complaints about too much rain — that the organic vegetable farmer is at best a perennially dissatisfied being, at worst schizophrenic. We live these contradictions daily, and assume them fully. That said, we are pleased to inform you that you will have broccoli in your baskets AGAIN…and what’s more, cauliflower too. Given the hot springs of the past few years, the performance of these vegetables had been sub-par: they either went to seed too fast or did not reach their full potential. This year, Mother Nature has been on our side on this one — you’ll see the result in your baskets.
Real summer is just around the corner — so spare a thought for the patient solanaceas (also known as nightshades) biding their time in their beds, waiting to impress. Si la tendance se maintient, as a well-known news commentator used to say, we should see our first tomatoes in a fortnight or so. Now there’s something that makes us smile.
