As promised, I am going to try to outline the process that a grain of seed wheat (and the plant that it becomes) is undergoing at the time of any particular issue over the coming year. Please understand that I am not an agronomist so my explanations may not be perfect! An arable farming year …
It’s Saturday morning,11th September, and it’s not hot; not even warm. What a contrast to the start I made to my article two months ago! Two big events have occurred since last I wrote, in the personal, local context. The terrible floods in Pakistan and Niger, for instance, are another matter and in another league. …
Seasonal Conditions and the effects on Yield and Harvesting Read More »
Arable crop farming is by its very nature, seasonal and annually repetitive. I have now been compiling this diary for more than a year and should really be looking back to make sure that I don’t go over the same things as last year. But of course that is inevitable in the general sense. The …
One bright and breezy day, right at the end of September, someone remarked to me that it was “another beautiful day”; not hot, not cool just a lovely sunny early autumn day . . . . but there was no rain. I got to thinking what about was said and what was meant. In our …
Which is your favourite season ? Spring with the bursting forth of waking nature and the expectation of the sun on your back in days ahead. Summer with long lazy warm evenings and holidays to look forward to Autumn with its field and hedgerow harvest complete and the wonderful tinted trees. Winter with snow, frost, …
There is nothing more that we can do now. The rape and winter wheat crops are starting to ripen and lighten in colour and harvest will soon be upon us. The rape should be ready to combine at the end of July / beginning of August, the winter wheat by mid August and the spring …
I’m writing this on Saturday 6th June and at last we have some desperately needed rain, with more forecast over the next couple of days. We have had some very warm sunny days over the previous few weeks and everyone (understandably) has been remarking on the lovely weather. It all depends on how you define …
I saw ‘our’ first swallow yesterday, 14th April. Along with hearing the cuckoo this really is a sign that spring is well and truly here. Hedges and trees agree with multiple shades of green. Only the ash has yet to break bud at Polehanger. My father always quotes the old saying that if the oak …
