Earliest start ever to the harvest

Our annual pea harvest started on the 5th of June this year - ten days ahead of our average and the earliest one any of us can remember.

It came as no surprise really, as a mild winter was followed by a very warm February, with very dry conditions, and the kindest spring in memory. With high soil temperatures and high ambient overhead temperatures, the peas were in the ground early and flourished quickly.

We have a tracker which helps us keep tabs on when we’re ready to harvest, which is usually around mid-June, and the earliest we could remember before this year was June 8th, but this year set a new record.

We had a flying start, with the first 60% of our crops being very, very good, but the last 40% were not good at all due to the dry weather and hot overnight temperatures, resulting in quite a disappointing harvest in the end.

Seasonal weather may be a thing of the past due to climate change, but we have to deal with whatever mother nature throws at us, and this was certainly a challenging one.