Friday, June 22, 2012

Polytunnel...better late than never!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the many extra pairs of hands helping us over the last few weeks. The transplants are gradually making their way to the field and there is still more seeding to be done but finally this week (on what felt like the hottest day of the year) we got round to erecting the polytunnel! Jamie and Jason seemed to effortlessly construct the 80ft structure over the course of the morning and by afternoon, if we hadn't been so flattened by the heat, we could have been out there transplanting. It's all a bit of an experiment for us to help us extend our season especially to protect the flowers when those sneaky snow storms hit in October, so we shall see which flowers like it and what we have energy for! Though if this hot weather continues we may have to seriously consider putting a swimming pool in it.
We had our first harvest this week of dianthus and fox glove, so the cool room is glowing a wonderful shade of pink and smells pretty good too. There also seems to be many wild strawberries around this year so they are most certainly worth bush cutting for. Weeds are growing like crazy, flowers are starting to bloom so the feeling post-solstice is a buzz of excitement as the summer season makes its debut. We've got this far, so bring it on!