Shropshire's. Family farming since 1952. What's happening?

What's Happening

September 2008

As the wet weather continues (after one of the wettest Augusts on record!) we have still to finish combining; although we are primarily growers of salads and vegetables we still include grain and other arable crops as part of the annual rotation on all our farms. We only need a few dry days and then the combines can be put away for another year.

Harvesting of the maincrop onions is under way but progress is slow, again due to the rain. The potato harvest will start in the last week of September, while harvesting of the salad crops will continue until the end of October. The majority of salads for this later period are grown on our East Coast Farms near Great Yarmouth where the climate allows us to extend the UK season for a few extra weeks.

Land is being cultivated in preparation for drilling (direct sowing) winter wheat at the end of September/October and the overwintered salad onions are also being drilled now. The Sugar beet factories open for business on 22nd Sept 2008 and we hope to start lifting beets in the next few weeks.

The final bumblebee counts were completed on the Pollen and Nectar areas on the farms at the beginning of September on a warm sunny day! These areas will be mown at the end of September to encourage regeneration for the following year.

Bird counts have been carried out across the farms this summer and the data is currently being collated.