June Seasonal Update

It's been a while since I've done an update. Early Spring is so dull from a New! point of view as we trudge on with the diminishing Winter crops, and wait eagerly for the early Spring crops such as Wild Garlic and Salad Leaves.

Perhaps more than any other time of year Spring into Summer is so dependent on the weather. Growing all these new crops is a real science with so many factors. Ideal conditions never arise. It needs to be not too dry, not too wet. Not too cold, not too hot. And so on.

This year May was cold and dry. Too cold and too dry.

As you'd expect new plants find it hard to grow and establish themselves in those conditions. The main impact has been slower growth of Strawberries, resulting in smaller crops/punnet sizes.

Asparagus as also been affected, with a lot of growers saying the traditional season end date of 21st June is looking unlikely. The spears are growing thin, thereby costing more (per kg) to harvest. I have heard of a grower allowing the spears to grow to fans before pruning to stimulate growth. Not sure it worked.

What is true is that the welcome rain and rise in temperature at the end of May has meant all those plants, set ready to go, have burst from the blocks and over first few of weeks of June we have a tsunami of new season veg!  

June Fruit

As mentioned, Strawberries should be cropping well, alongside Blackberries. Early June should see Raspberries & Blueberries start. Blueberries are new for us this year, from Rodanto at Sidcup. Ok, just outside Kent but you can spit a pip into Kent from the farm so they are in!

Apples from storage will be ceasing from early June as last year's crop comes to and end. We will see them again in August.

Waiting to hear on Cherries. Last year we start in the first 10 days of June, but I reckon the cold dry weather will mean back to 2023 start of late June. As soon as we know you will!

Apricots cropped last year right at the very end of June. Hoping for the same this year. Last years were also all marked by a hail storm. We still took them though, even though they were rejected by the supermarkets 🙄.

June Veg

As we move into June, we supplement the late Spring leaves, salads & shoots with 'real' veg.

First to appear are some stocky root veg like Beetroot and some Carrots too. Total dependent on rainfall, these early roots are keen to grow so a decent shower can really boost the root size. Fennel is also good to crop too. Radish are also an early starter.

Early in the month we should see some New Potatoes come online.

Broad Beans are also ready in early June this year, delayed slightly by the drought. It's a similar story with Spring Onions. The early crop in late May, had a lot of dead/brown leaves on them. Perfectly good inside but not the best looking. The recent rains have hopefully given a recovery boost to them.

Later in the month more Veg appears, leading the way is Broccoli, supporting the ubiquitous Cauliflower. 

Finally some Summer field crops appear, Courgettes, Marrows, and if we are lucky some Summer Squash.