Fen Peas

It was quite warm today, and meant to be even warmer tomorrow, but then there appears to be a sting in the tail at the weekend with temperatures potentially below 10C. Growing crops, like humans, do not like these sorts of variations. In a nutshell peas want to go into moisture and then just have the sun on their backs. It's as simple as that, but never works out how you want it to. A quick trip round reveals that all peas drilled north of Boston are clearly visible in rows, while those south are just emerging. Dare I say it Andrew, a drop of rain would not go amiss!

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It's warm, and it's getting warmer! This may be short lived as the forecasters say that it will get much colder at the weekend, and potential showers. Any rain will be welcome, we are now drilling at 3 inches plus to find moisture. The weather patterns at this time of year seem to have been the same for the last three years. Getting very dry, and then we seem to pay for it big time! Our progress with drilling is still steady, about 53% in at the weekend. The delay caused by the long winter will never be caught up and I expect that the drills will still be busy beyond the middle of May.

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Still drilling into moisture, but only just! The weather patterns of the last few years do seem to be remarkably similar, by the time you get to late April things are drying out. The main difference this year is that because of the cold winter, the frost action on the land means that it is working easier than in previous years. This reduces compaction, and we use less diesel. It will be May next week, so as well as keeping focused on drilling, we will have to begin to turn our attention to the harvest, and ensure that we have all the kit ready for a eight week trek across Lincolnshire!

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Another day, another drill. This time a plot drill. It does not look like much but this bit of kit allows small plots to be drilled, to trial new varieties. By starting off with small plots, and then assesing the produce, varieties that do not perform can soon be quickly discarded. Whilst those will potential are grown on bigger plot sizes the following year. There are various characteristics that are looked for, yield, disease resistance, taste, colour, size, ease of harvest, being just a few. It may be that one of those varieties being drilled here today will be a commercial sucess in the future. Conditions for our crops still remain good. Seedbeds are easy to work, plenty of moisture and sun overhead. Could do with being a bit warmer! Got to have a moan somewhere! No doubt the temperature is good in Menorca!

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Full steam ahead! Looks like an uninterrupted week so we are pressing on in the Frampton and Kirton area. Peas drilled last thursday now have over one inch chits on! That is quite significant growth for that number of days. The warm weekend did a lot to help. Broad beans in the garden seemed to be growing by the minute. Just emerging on friday night, and one and a half inches through by sunday evening! Even though it has turned a bit cooler once the peas start to grow, strike, they do seem to manage to put some growth on each day despite it cooling down slightly. Let us hope this spell of settled weather continues and makes life easier with the planning. If all goes according to plan it will be Sutterton, Fosdyke, Holbeach Marsh and beyond next week.

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Question. Which pea cost £10million? Answer, none in this picture, but a Mexican footballer named Javier Hernandez who has been signed by Manchester United and joins them on the 1st July this year! Javier's father was also a footballer in Mexico and was known as El Chicaro, "the pea", and his son has now been given the title of El Chicharito, "the little pea"! If the industry had enough money perhaps we could sponsor him!

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Another week goes by with little activity. Frustrating! This picture was taken on 4th April 2009 and shows what a fantastic spring we had. It got dry towards the end, but allowed us to move through our drilling programme at a steady pace, in good conditions. Some are saying that the seasons have reverted to what they were historically. I think they are right. I wonder what the global warming people have to say!

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