Willow windbreak....

Being quite an exposed site we need some form of windbreak and we decided to go for a natural solution along the boundaries so today has been willow planting day. Apparently they should grow between 6 and 10 FEET this year!!! 

These are 2 foot rods planted 1 foot deep through weed control fabric

A great idea for firewood also so we'll be planting a lot more next season 

You can have your first wood fuel harvest just 3 years after planting and can realistically expect a harvest of 8-10 tonnes of dry wood per hectare (about 2 1/2 acres) per year.

The Tatties are in !!!!

Well thanks to the fine weather that's the tatties all in Maris Piper, Desiree,Kerrs Pink (all Main crop), Sarpo Miro and a few experimental ones for us Saxon, Carlingford and Nicola (2nd Earlies)

Not perfect but the tattie planter worked pretty well just 3 1/2 hours work compared with probably 2 days by hand

And a rare picture of the other tattie planter......the boss!!

7500 Onions next........

Tomato Varieties

Just for those tomato growers the 2 varieties we will have for the plant sale are Alicante and Shirley which have always done well for us and are both medium size and good tasting and usually crop well

Plant Sale Date

Our Plant Sale will be on

Saturday 14th May 2016 from 10am till 2pm (ish!!) 

here at Waulkmill. 

Parking will be in the field below the house and we will have all our plants in the Polytunnels so if its a fine sunny day it will be hot but if its raining at least we'll be dry!!

For those who don't know where we are we are at Waulkmill just off B9119 Coming from Aberdeen direction heading towards Tarland we are just past the old Crossroads hotel (now Patersons stoves) on the right hand side (there is a signpost saying Waulkmill) go down the hill and then up the hill and we are on the right hand side. 

Obviously coming from Tarland direction we are just before the crossroads on the left!!

We will get some signs out on the day
 
We can only take cash ...sorry...we don't have any card facilities

Please feel free to share this with friends

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you all

Plant Sale Update.....

Okay weather is not cooperating so we're delaying deciding on a date for the plant sale BUT we can say that we will have the following :

Hanging baskets from £5.00 Flowers and Strawberries

Trailing plants
Lobelia Mixed
Surfinia
Petunia
Nepeta
Geranium
Fuchsia

Bedding Plants
Petunia
Pansies
Nicotinana
Chrysanthemum
French Marigold
Geranium

Herbs
Curly Parsley
Garden MInt
and fingers crossed..
coriander
tarragon
basil

Veg Plants
Kale
Cauli
Broc (sprouting)
Calabrese
Cabbage
Purple sprouting broc
Tomatoes
Peppers
Courgettes

Prices will as they say be VERY competitive hopefully we'll let you have a date and times by Friday. The poly tunnels are looking more and more like a mini garden centre

Making the most of the good weather...

Great busy weekend whilst the weather is fine as after today goodness knows whats coming. We have our soft fruit in - Raspberries, Blackcurrants, Red Currants,Gooseberries,Blackberries,Goji Berries and Rhubarb 

No doubt if the forecast is correct our windbreak will be tested fully!!

Also managed to get the Tattie patch rotavated so we're ready to roll shortly..... weather permitting....

A Harrowing experience......

Well that's the Veg patch harrowed now thanks to the dry weather although the soil is still quite damp underneath. Thanks once again to our farmer neighbour Will Tulloch....would have taken me a week in our wee tractor!!

Hopefully tatties in this week weather permitting......please.......

April Update

Everything is growing well now in the greenhouses and poly tunnels. Our new DIY heated propagator (2nd picture below) is proving its worth

The third picture below of the tomatoes has ones which have had under heating on the left and those which have not on the right all sown at the same time.....quite an amazing difference.....

Otherwise today has been a day of filling pots and potting on peppers butternut squash and lots of other plants both for our Plant Sale in May and for the veggie boxes starting later in the year. 

The wet weather has delayed Tattie planting but if it stays dry for the next couple of days as forecast fingers crossed we may get them all in all 75 kilos of them!!

Registration for 2016 Veggieboxes

Well as we've had such a fantastic number of people registering for our 2016 Veggie boxes after midnight tomorrow we will still be accepting registrations BUT they will be added to our waiting list and in the event that anyone drops out or decides they don't want a box after all then additions will be on a strictly first come first served basis.

Those of you who have been with us for a while know that we limit the numbers to ensure quantity and quality 

Thanks to everyone both old and new customers!!

Can we have some dry weather please???

Just wishing for a few dry days to get some work done outside. In the meantime however we've completed our heated propagation unit in Polytunnel No 1 so our wee plants bottoms will be nice and warm and hopefully encourage them to grow even more.... In the meantime the Tomatoes and Chillis are coming along and the Strawberries for hanging baskets too...

Spring must be here?

Well things are really starting to grow now indoors at least; a lovely 22 degrees in the Polytunnels and flower plant seedlings are doing well for our plant sale in May. 

The onions too are shooting and as soon as we get the outside veg 'patch' harrowed and rotavated  they and the 75 kilos of seed tatties will be going in!!

That will be another busy day....
 

No 2 polytunnel almost complete

and No 2 tunnel almost complete I always get the easy job sitting in the wee tractor whilst the MD (Jeannette) does the physical bit but I am a bit older LOL!!!!
2 down 1 to go.....

Polytunnel No 2 almost up...

well there's Poly tunnel no 2 almost up .......think we'll sleep well tonight and finish it off tomorrow..

This is where it all starts....

and we're off this is where it all starts folks.... with plantings and sowings the first of about 2000 onions for our customers this year sets and seeds.... and Polytunnel No 2 roped with Clingons** to grip the polythene ........ fingers crossed the forecast for little or no wind tomorrow is accurate....if not you may hear some swearing!!!!

**What are Clingons ? Simple and easy to fit, these hard wearing, reusable eyelet clips instantly create a strong securing point, or eyelet, on any type of tarpaulin, canvas and synthetic sheet material, wherever you want, in seconds – no tools required, no damage to the material. Website at http://www.clingons.co.uk/

Veg patch now under way......

Thanks to our neighbour Will Tulloch the veg patch is now beautifully ploughed. Harrowing next and then we can get onto it with our wee tractor and rotavator

500 hedging trees arrived yesterday as well so it's going to be busy.........

Mobile and Tablet Users

Anyone having any problems with our website on a mobile or tablet please let me know. 

Stats show these days that more people are using handheld devices that desktop PC's

I've also now got QR codes for the Home Page Registration Page and Facebook Page ......in case you're interested in that order below. there will be one to change your optouts when we start deliveries later in the year too!

Plant Sale 2016

We have had a plant sale in early May for the last few years selling Vegetable, Flower, Hanging Basket,Herb and Tomato Plants for local gardeners all grown by us If you are interested and would like to be kept informed regarding this please use the form below to register your interest

http://www.thefarmgarden.co.uk/plantsale.htm

Register for 2016 Veggieboxes now!!

Okay sooner than I thought the registration page is now up and running so if you are interested please visit :

http://www.thefarmgarden.co.uk/register2016.htm

Look forward to hearing from you !!

Website Update In Progress

Just started work on the updated website feel free to have a look although it is very much a work in progress.

www.thefarmgarden.co.uk

Hope to have a registration form up and running in the next 48 hours for anyone to register interest (with no commitment whatsoever at this stage) in possibly having a veggie box from us later in the year. We are also hoping to have some sort of 'shop' subject to planners etc as well.

2016 Update

We are planning to relaunch the veg business in September this year following a house and business move to our new home in Lumphanan but also hoping to have our usual annual plant sale in May so keep an eye on our website www.thefarmgarden.co.uk and this blog for updates

In the meantime we have one of our 3 polytunnels up and running and hopefully by mid 2016 all 3 will be producing for us. We also plan to have soft fruit available in the future
so again keep up to date with this blog and our website/Facebook page