January / February 2023
Shwmae, we at would like to start with wishing all of you lovely folk a very merry and fulfilling new year! We look forward to delivering our first Hooma Hu newsletter of 2023.
Croeso and Diolch to our new customers, for those not aware the newsletters are written as a monthly update to keep you all in the loop with what’s been going on here at Hooma Hu; keeping you informed in with any upcoming crops, events or changes. We hope you enjoy reading it!
A lot has changed since the last newsletter, which we wrote about the lingering warmth of November and how we still had Chillie Pepper plants producing Chillies. Well, the Chillie plants are well and truly gone now, totally wiped out by the minus 6c we had in the middle of December. However, the harsh cold snaps that came upon us have done the veg garden quite a bit of good as well having also wiped out the aphids and caterpillars that were still scuttling about. Then came January, a month of pause in the vegetable garden. The long dark nights and cold weather bring any crop growth, even in the polytunnels to an absolute standstill. Once picked, the Spinach, Rainbow Chard and Salad crops that grow back in a matter of weeks in the summer remain little leafless stumps waiting patiently for warmer days to begin so they may start their unfurling of new growth.
Whilst the crops lay dormant until longer days, we unfortunatley as humans do not get such rest. Although there is little in terms of weeding, sowing and planting to do in January there is still plenty to be getting on with.
We have started preparing two new outdoor vegetable plots. We covered the ground with a black plastic sheet to kill the grass and weeds by suppressing them of sunlight. It can take as little as three months for this process to work, although some invasive weeds such as creeping thistle can take up to 20 years to eradicate! In April, we then intend to remove the plastic covers and cover the weedless soil in a lush layer of compost before planting. We aim to keep the soil around our crops protected with a thick mulch of compost, which eventually will stop any weed seeds germinating and growing up to become a nuisance. These new plots will be managed like our others in a “no dig” approach meaning there will be minimal digging and no rotovating of the soil after each crop is harvested. After one crop is pulled out the following crop will then be planted straight into the soil after it, always keeping the surface of the soil covered with a layer of compost to stop those pesky weeds growing. This method of growing is beneficial to the soil in so many ways and in turn beneficial to the crops. It improves soil structure, boosts volumes and diversity of organisms in the soil and also avoids releasing substantial amounts of carbon in to the air where it goes on to form the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as done so in conventional “dig the soil” vegetable growing. If you want to see this approach in action, feel free to pop along to one of our volunteer days on a Wednesday and we will happily tell you all about it!
January for us also brings a period of planning. Many of the long dark evenings are spent with pen and paper planning the crops for the season ahead. This involves deciding where crops will be planted, how many of each to grow and most importantly which types vegetables will be grown! This year we have decided to try a few new crops, be on the look out this summer for some beautiful pointed red cabbage named “Kalibos”, some multi colored rainbow Carrots along with the gorgeous speckled Radicchio. We plan on delving slightly into some more experimental crops with a small patch being put aside for Sweet Potatoes and another for Malabar Spinach. Malabar Spinach, also known as Vine Spinach is a fast growing vine that we will have to train up a trellis of some sort. It produces succulent heart shaped edible leaves. Often grown in tropical parts of the world and used in Chinese, Vietnamese and Sri Lankan cuisine, we thought we would give it a go in the polytunnel and see what happens, its always fun to try out new techniques and crops!
The next job on the horizon is getting our two polytunnel frames up. We would like to see the frames go up in the next couple of months, the skins on in early summer and then be planting crops in to the soil in August if all goes to plan. Polytunnels really do make a world of difference in vegetable growing. Not only do they offer a higher temperature for the plants to grow in but also, and perhaps even more importantly, protection from any harsh weather conditions. The month of February really makes a difference in a polytunnel, inside our existing tunnel it feels like spring has come already. The crop growth has accelerated rapidly meaning by mid-February we again are harvesting the leafy crops that were once mere stumps, we should have Mixed Leaf Salad Bags in a much larger volume then we have had so far this year, so look out for these in the boxes. We also have crops that we sowed in Autumn coming to fruition in the tunnel, purple tinged Spring Onions and open leaf Spring Cabbage, both currently being harvested. We have already sown new seeds in the polytunnel too, think Radish, Turnip, Lettuce and multi colored Beetroot, which are all sprouting as well as potting our tomato plants and waiting for chillie pepper seeds to pop up. It really does all start happening so fast once you moving past Imbolc, the first stirrings of a new season, the very start of new growth once again.
We are still running our weekly volunteer days all the way through although they are much quieter in winter, if you fancy popping down to us one Wednesday to help out then you’re very welcome! Jobs in February/March may include mulching our already existing no dig beds with cardboard and compost, clearing beds and planting out new crops in the polytunnel, erecting a structure to hold our Broad Beans up and of course starting work on the two polytunnel frames. We are always happy to teach you a bit about what we do and we love meeting our customers! RSVP, 11am and 3pm. Food and Drink provided 😊
Thanks for reading our newsletter, we hope you enjoyed it!!!
Cariad Mawr
Rita, Luna and Will
Comments