Fen Peas

Apparently it's going to get colder over the next day or two, this will slow down the growth of the pea crop. We were not too busy this week, completing drilling north of Boston and so we are waiting for these peas to grow before we start south of Boston. If it comes as cold as they say we shall not start again until mid-week. Whenever you open the papers there is always something about food, the long-term supply (sustainability), cost and health benefits. This week there was a report that "Peas can lower blood pressure as well as help those who have kidney disease". This is good I hear you say, but, on the flip side for those of us in the production of the crop, they can also raise the blood pressure when we are in the middle of our season! Seriously though, it is a good article and says that this is the first reporting that a natural food product can relieve symptons of kidney disease. You can find the article at www.telegraph.co.uk and search peas. Anyway there is a lot to look foward to, spring arrives at the weekend with the clocks going on one hour, and the G20 hits town. So, by the end of next week all the worlds problems will be solved!

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The first drilled Prelado are now emerging on the light land at Sudbrooke. These have emerged 5 days ahead of the time it took last year. So there is some growth, despite the cool night time temperatures. Great attention will now need to be paid to keeping the pigeons off whilst the plant is able to grow away and cover the ground. Drilling of Jaguar, Meridian, Gonzo and Premio went well down on the Fens this week. North of Boston is nearly completed, and we now await the arrival of the the slow boat from New Zealand with the balance of Novella on.

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We completed drilling on Lincoln Heath last week, and have now moved across to Tattershall, Toynton and into the Fens. Even though it has been fairly cold, there is some growth. There have been up to five drills going, drilling Twinkle, Jaguar, Meridian and Premio, which all have different maturity dates and will hopefully give us a good spread at harvest. There is one problem looming on the horizion, and that is delivery of seed. Some seed was due to arrive from New Zealand at the end of this month. It now looks as though this will be two weeks late. This will cause some complications with the drilling programme, but is not impossible to get round. Over the last few years with companies looking ever more closely at costs, seed houses have kept their stocks down to a minimum. With the wet harvest here last autumn, and a late harvest in New Zealand, pressure has been put on stocks. There is barely enough to go round. It does just go to show yet again, how fragile our food supply can be.

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The Blog has come out of hibernation for the 2009 drilling season! We have now been drilling for a week or more on the light land. Whilst temperatures have been low at times, by its nature light land will warm up quickly, and the peas do not tend to suffer from the freezing temperatures. The first field drilled now has over two inch chits on, and growing upwards. The area around Sleaford is nearly completed, we have made some good progress on Lincoln Heath, and next week, if we do not get too much rain, we shall continue at Tattershall, Scrafield and then down onto the Fens.

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