13th April

Last year at this point we had just started planting in the field.

We blocked all the seeds at the same dates as we did last year, and the plants are looking great, but they are at least a couple of weeks away, before we can even take them out of the tunnels, and from here they need to sit outside for a further week to get hardened of before planting.

So, it goes to show how colder it has been from January until now.

Last year we did start planting very early, so we are back to when we used to plant before.

The field has had all the compost spread and ploughed, one of the first jobs I need to do after the ploughing is done, is to go over with a machine called a triple k.

The triple k has lots of springy legs that break up the soil and behind them there isa set of rollers which break the soil up even more.

If I don’t go through the field just after the ploughing was done, it ends up being really hard a slow to bedform the ground for planting, after ploughing there is big lumps of earth which go brick hard if left for too long, so on Sunday morning I got the smoothed out, it’s quite job and only takes around four hrs.

We had a bit of disappointing news this week.

Andrew our main driver and who most of you will know is leaving.

Andrew has been with us for over three years, and has been a very dependable loyal van driver, which we will sorely miss at Bellfield.

Andrew comes from the west coast and lived on one of the islands near Oban. On here he was a fisherman.

They came to the mainland a few years ago now, but Andrew has always hankered for a return to the west coast, I cannot say I blame him, it is a stunning part of the world.

Andrew will be leaving at the end of April, and we wish him all the best, and we are a bit jealous on where is going to live.

And he is heading back to fish on the Outer Hebrides.

We have another driver Mark, who has been delivering our retired driver Johns runs.

Mark will be taking on Andrew’s deliveries.

And John is coming back to do Marks deliveries; John now hates retirement plays Golf three days a week but grabbed the chance to be out delivering a couple of days a week.

John, I do not think will mind me saying is seventy-eight and had been delivering with us for over 20 years, we are really glad to see him back.