It’s Official – Our Asparagus is The Best!!

On Wednesday 26th June we went to The Oval in Bethnal Green for the finals of the Soil Association’s Best of Organic Markets awards. Our asparagus was short listed in the vegetable sub category of the main class – Organic Fresh Produce – and was up against carrots and mushrooms from very large growers. We were announced as winners of this category and then were against the winner of the Salad section which was The Isle of Wight Tomato Company. It was extremely exciting and we were delighted when it was announced that Bothen Hill was the overall winner. Full details can be found at https://www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/boom-award

Great excitement here at Bothen Hill as tomorrow, Wednesday 26th June we’re off to London to the Soil Association’s Best of Organic Markets (BOOM) Awards. Our Asparagus has qualified as one of the final three products in the Fresh Produce, Vegetables, section of the awards. Up against Organic Mushrooms from Aldi and Organic Carrots from R B Produce, the competition is stiff, but we think we’ve done amazingly well to get this far! We’ll post the results as soon as they are known on Twitter and Facebook, and in due course on the web site, but thank you to everyone who has supported us and for your good wishes.

Meanwhile of course there’s lots going on back at the farm! The recent rain has ensured that our transplanting schedule for calabrese, cabbage, sprouts, summer and winter PSB and leeks has been kept well up to date, such a contrast to last year. The tunnels are now full, and producing a good crop of French beans and courgettes. The tomatoes are growing well and bearing numerous fruits as are the cucumbers. In addition both the apricot and peach trees are extremely laden and we’re just hoping for some sunshine to ripen the fruits, it looks as if we are going to be fortunate in this respect.

Out in the fields the broad beans have cropped well, as have sugar snap peas. The rhubarb is still going, although not quite as red as we would like. Sweetcorn is looking good, the farmer’s expression of it being “Knee high by the 4th July” will be met, so with a good sized patch this year we’re hoping for great yields.

Beetroot and carrots are finally starting to yield well, and we’ve had good germination with parsnips and also the sown leeks; those which were transplanted are looking good.

All in all we’re looking forward to a good harvest and hope that you’ll enjoy the produce during the summer as well.

Yes, it’s all been happening here at Bothen Hill, whilst ‘Hungry Gap’ has been upon us, and longer than usual, the asparagus has certainly been keeping us very occupied! Long days, short nights and aching legs, but it’s all been very worthwhile and we’ve had a good harvest.

We were fortunate to be approached by our insurers, Cornish Mutual, to take part in their Food Heros campaign, see www.cornishmutual.co.uk/real-food-heroes/real-food-heroes/bothen-hill-west-dorset and as a result have also appeared in various newspapers and periodicals throughout the south-west, so hopefully Bothen Hill has managed to raise its profile somewhat!

Of course, farming still goes on, and we’ve been pretty busy with our routine work. As a result we’re delighted to say that as from Friday 14th June we’ll be back on our weekly box deliveries, and the list of what’s available will be updated shortly before – leaving it until the last minute to ensure everything we’ve got available is incorporated.

New potatoes have grown well and are absolutely delicious, as are all the new vegetables – we’re currently harvesting new carrots, courgettes from the tunnel, sugar snap peas, broad beans, lettuce, beetroot, calabrese and tender stem broccoli, so if you can’t wait until the 14th do call up on a Friday morning for a selection of lovely fresh vegetables for the weekend. Asparagus is still coming and we have plenty here, as do the local farm shops, Modbury Farm Shop, Washingpool Farm Shop, Millers Farm Shop and also Fruits of the Earth in Bridport.

We are now picking asparagus on a daily basis, with the lovely sunny weather yields should soon increase. Tomorrow, Saturday 20th April, we’ll be at Bridport Street Market at the junction of East and West Street with a limited amount so do arrive early!

Regrettably we have been forced to suspend deliveries for the time being due to shortage of vegetables! This is mainly caused by the exceptionally hot summer last year which resulted in a significant number of crop failures and also restricted our ability to transplant so that the crops from many of our brassicas have been much lighter than usual.

Regrettably we have been forced to suspend deliveries for the time being due to shortage of vegetables! This is mainly caused by the exceptionally hot summer last year which resulted in a significant number of crop failures and also restricted our ability to transplant so that the crops from many of our brassicas have been much lighter than usual.

At the moment we’re not able to give a start date, likely to be mid June, but the good news is that the asparagus is just about arriving! We’ll also be open for sales at the Farm Gate (7 Green Lane DT6 4ED) as usual on Friday mornings until noon when we’ll have a good selection of our remaining produce, parsnips, beetroot, spinach, kales, leeks, squash and chard available, in addition to the asparagus.  If you can’t get to us and want to place an order to be collected on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning please get in touch;  in addition we’ll have our asparagus at Bridport Street Market (junction of East and West Street, outside Steptoes) on Saturday mornings and will also have it here with an honesty box. 

We look forward to seeing you on a Friday and will be back just as soon as we’ve got sufficient produce to service everyone!

We’re gearing up now for a bumper summer, as long as the weather permits! Planting here at Bothen Hill started back in January when early cabbages and calabrese were sown in modules – these have now been planted out and are fleeced to keep them warm and, hopefully, protected from pigeons!

We also planted leeks, onions, garlic, carrots and even the new potatoes. Many of these are growing well, although we’ve yet to see the potatoes emerge.

The broad beans, which were planted before Christmas, are well up and nearly in flower, so we’re hoping that these will be early. The first rhubarb is also very tasty and hopefully there should be a good supply of this soon.

Meantime, we’re continuing to plant in the tunnel, which is very full, and hopefully the main crop potatoes will soon be in the ground.

All in all, things are looking good!

Well, having just got through the wettest winter since we started trading we’re now faced with the driest summer!  The weather is just incredibly unpredictable and the constant talk in our house!  Of course, it has its challenges, with some plants being more difficult to manage than others!

However, as ever looking on the bright side, the tomatoes in the tunnel are looking absolutely amazing and taste delicious. The cherry varieties are already coming with abundance, Super Sweet 100, Sun Gold and Tomatoberry are all deliciously tasty and really remind us that summer’s well and truly arrived! This year we’ve been successful in growing aubergines, probably due to the heat in the tunnel and our experimental apricot and peach trees provided lots of wonderful fruit, sadly now all finished.

French Beans, which we always plant inside to have an early crop, grew well and have now been removed to make way for more which will finish the bean season when they are ready, in the meantime the outside French Beans are being harvested, as are the very popular but extremely labour intensive Fine Green Beans.

Back in the tunnels the courgettes are producing well, although the outside planting are also doing well so likely the inside ones will soon be removed to make way for more loose leaf salad; whilst we normally grow this outside, due to the weather it’s completely impossible this year so it’s taking up tunnel space!

Outside the squash are truly amazing, we’ve always said that growing them is challenging, they really need a much warmer climate than we have here, but this year they are obviously benefitting from the heat and we have some wonderful examples, just like the picture on the packet. The sweet corn has also benefitted from the sunshine, although it could probably do with a little drink now. However, the cobs are well formed and starting to change colour, it won’t be long before the harvest starts.

Regrettably due to the weather, many of our other crops are struggling. Lack of moisture has impeded germination specifically of carrots and we still have a significant number of brassicas to plant out. Those which are in the fields are just about holding their own, and the potatoes have grown with virtually no rain at all.

Challenging times ahead, but no doubt we’ll tackle them head on!

Following our enforced lay off we’re delighted to say that we’ll be delivering again as from Friday 8th June. Some things are a little sparse at the moment, we could certainly do with some more rain, but are delighted that the first of the potatoes, Rocket, are finally available.

The courgettes are growing well in the tunnels, as is the mixed salad, which have really benefitted from the heat, and outside the broad beans, spinach, lettuce and chard are all doing well.

The sugar snap peas are flowering and producing reasonably well and we still have rhubarb available.  Asparagus is slowing down now, but can be ordered this week, although likely to be the final week.

Looking forward, all the brassicas which have been planted are growing well, although again could do with rain, it looks like the hispi cabbage will arrive first, shortly followed by the summer purple sprouting broccoli. French beans in the tunnels have flowered well, so we’re just waiting for the beans to form, hopefully available within the next couple of weeks.

Open as usual for Farm Gate sales on Friday mornings.

We very much regret that due to the very long and wet winter we’ve had to suspend vegetables from 12th May. Our plan is to be up and running again on 8th June when, hopefully, we’ll have our new season’s produce including new potatoes, broad beans, carrots, courgettes……. Apologies, but unfortunately we have no alternative.

Meantime we are harvesting asparagus which is available directly from us on a Friday morning, at Bridport Street Market on Saturday morning or from Modbury Farm at Burton, Fruits of the Earth in Bridport, Washingpool Farm Shop Bridport and Millers Farm Shop at Kilmington.

We think that this winter has been the longest ever! Certainly we’ve had sufficient cold to kill off all the unwanted bugs, we hope, and rain to wash everything away, don’t think it has ever been so wet before! Now finally some spring-like weather at last. Things are actually starting to look greener, the grass is growing, lambs are arriving and much of the planting which we have been undertaking in the poly tunnel is shooting into life.

We hope that we have successfully finished our ‘winter’ jobs, 2 of our 3 poly tunnels have been re-covered since Christmas, so hopefully this will aid the crops to be planted in them shortly.  Already we have french beans which are just starting to climb up their pole supports, and the indoor salad is looking good.  Our experimental trees, apricot, peach and nectarine, have all blossomed well, hopefully pollination has been good and fruit will form in abundance.

Outside in the fields, understandably, things are very behind as it’s just been too wet to get onto the land. The new potatoes were planted in a ‘dry window’ in February, before the snow, so hopefully they will soon appear. We’ve also got some good lines of broad beans and sugar snap peas so are looking forward to these.

Of course at this time of the year the great interest is in the asparagus, it’s been far too cold for an early crop here at Bothen Hill! However,at the end of last week, I am reliably informed that two very tiny shoots were seen, so watch this space, the web site will be updated as and when it arrives.