It's been a busy few weeks here on the farm, with everything seemingly happening at once - it is August, after all! We've been working hard to harvest all the seed crops that are time sensitive, and busily processing as much as possible to make more space for new entries. We've also now planted out all of our winter crops, and are prompted to remind you that now is your last chance to sow your second spring winter seed collections. By late august, it will be too late to sow many of these crops and ensure proper harvests.
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Our favourite collection includes a tried and tested selection of winter salads, spring onions, Asian greens, spinach and turnips. Click the photo below to be directed to our webshop and get your collection delivered.

Updates from the farm

The past two weeks have seen a number of new seed crop harvests, including cucumbers, peppers, chillis, beans and many flowers. For us, the first harvest of the season for any seed crop is always an exciting moment.

This week, the first 'Shintokiwa' cucumbers have been harvested. We leave these on the vine to ripen well beyond the point of eating, until they are large and yellow. We then lay them out on racks in the tunnel to cure for a few weeks. After this, we will open them up and remove the seeds, ready to process and dry further.

We've also begun harvesting the 'Basque' chillis. These gorgeous red chillis are mild when cooked, but pretty firey when raw. They will be harvested every week and processed in batches, taking extra care to ensure we aren't covered in spicy chilli juice!

Another newly harvested crop is our Quinoa mix. We harvest these once the seeds are crumbling off the heads. These are then laid out to dry on racks, and covered with mesh so that the birds and rodents can't access them.

If you've been wondering about saving your own seeds this season, we have a whole host of seed saving resources on our website, including seed saving tips for vegetables, flowers and herbs, and an online seed saving course. These resources cover all of the things you might need to know as a home seed saver.

Saving your own seed is one of the best ways to ensure resilience in your garden - if you save and grow from your own seed, they will adapt over time to your specific conditions, which is only going to become more important with the dry summers and wet winters that we are experiencing.

August is a busy and sometimes stressful month for many growers, but it is also the month where most reward is reaped from our efforts this season. We really hope that many of you are enjoying abundant harvests and, despite the drought and uncertainty that comes with a lack of rain, we hope you are also soaking up the summer sun and taking moments to sit and bask in the garden glory.

If you are starting to sow some winter seeds, or are already taking care of seedlings, I hope that doing so serves as a quiet reminder of the gentler days to come, and provides rest from the summer busyness.

Take care,

Izzy and the Vital Seeds team