It's been a great couple of weeks here at the farm, with the weather staying sunny and mild. We were promised a few showery days, so we broadcast our green manures out in the field - we've got 3 beds down to manure in our rotation, building up organic matter, storing nitrogen and improving the soil fertility. The rain hasn't made an appearance yet, so the sprinkler's have had to go on...

This year we are doing a mix of white clover, red clover, phacelia and buckwheat. The phacelia and buckwheat will grow up first, and when they're topped off to return to the soil the clover will shine through, ensuring the soil stays covered and the fertility builds throughout the season.

We've also been busy with our beans, weeding the broad beans and the French beans and admiring all their fresh growth. Our peppers, chillies, aubergines and sunflowers are also now in their beds!

Collage peppers, Black Beauty aubergines, and Sonja sunflowers planted in this week, and the Ratio broad beans coming through nicely

Now that most of our crops are getting bedded in, it's a good time to put up structures and strings to support the incoming growth. We like to string our tomatoes using a Bowline knot. This knot is ideal, it's easy to tie and untie, and importantly it won't cause damage by tightening around the main stem. If you'd like to have a go, here's a demo from Tom!

How to string your tomatoes:

1. Form the Hole: Make a small loop around the plant
2. Up through the Hole: Pass the working end of the string up through the loop from the underside.
3. Pull through: Pull the working end through
4. Down through the Hole: Return the working end back down through the loop.
5. Tighten: Pull both ends to secure the knot.
6. Wrap: Now weave the rest of the string loosely up and around the plant as it grows, tying it to a bar or cord at full height.

Make your own plant feed!

With all these summer fruiting crops getting planted out, you might want to consider making your own plant feed. It's a simple and easy way to ensure crops like tomatoes, chillies and aubergines get enough nutrients to produce an abundance of green growth and fruits. Comfrey and Nettles are both commonly used, the former is particularly rich in Potassium and an excellent feed to encourage flowers and fruits, while the latter is rich in Nitrogen and encourages green, leafy growth.

Comfrey - every grower's must have!

Plant feed recipe:

1. Harvest the leaves of nettle and/or comfrey plants
2. Pack tightly into a bucket or barrel (one with a tap at the bottom makes things even easier)
3. Use a rock or weight to compress and weigh the leaves down
4. Every few weeks pour off the collected liquid and top up with fresh leaves
5. Use the liquid as a feed on your plants (diluted 1:10)

You can also make these plant feeds by following the same steps but adding water to the bucket, it is a faster process but it really, really smells!

Vital Seed's chief tomato guard

We hope you have a delightful weekend of potting on, planting out and relaxing in this beautiful May sunshine and all it's verdant splendour! Do remember to stay in tune with the forecast and conditions where you are, there's still a risk of frost for many of us - so don't plant out too soon, the right time will come...

Happy growing!

Izzy and the rest of the Vital Seeds team