Tomato heaven 🍅

New arrival 😊

🍠

Just look at all that gleaming, healthy beetroot at Frith Farm, on its way to be roasted and frozen ahead of Freedom FEASTival on Sunday September 3!

We'll be releasing some exciting FEASTival news this week, so keep your ears to the ground for details about how you can nominate someone for something very special... ... See more

Monday's Harvest... Have you ever seen a beet so big?
See you at the Annek shortly.

Delicious healthy recipe idea! The Rainbow chard we get from Frith Farm is amazing! ❤️💛💚💙💜

Brimming brilliant broccoli!

Another day on the farm brings new exciting produce. Broccoli well on its way.

- and a lovely photo of Ben.

Great produce reaching great places.

Superb produce from @frithfarming today locally grown chemical free zero food miles #rainbowchard #radish #heritagecarrots #gooseberries #lovesummer #food #cheflife #chefofinstagram #thewestwoodrestaurant #beverley #eastyorkshire ... See more

Just the finishing touches left for the Monday Box Scheme Harvest - Drop off Soon !
The first Fresh tomatoes will be on their way and we're keeping the tops on the beetroot.
Thank you for the support for local organic producers! ... See more

Box scheme ready for drop off point - the annex
See you all soon!
Don't forget your bag!

Cucumbers almost there x

Our top #fridaytip for the week is to clear away rotting or diseased leaves from the veg patch, especially from #lettuces and #brassicas. Much of it can be #composted.

As you lift your #veg, cover any bare areas of soil with a low nutrient mulch such as leaf mould, straw or dampened down newly-fallen leaves.

Don’t use your #compost yet – save it for early #spring. ... See more

We're also taking part in Heritage Open Days.
Pop along and take a walk through our gardens. You can even enjoy a lovely cuppa afterwards ☕️

Heritage Open Days 2017

Potentilla thurberi 'Monarch's Velvet' - scarlet cinquefoil is our #plant of the week. This #herbaceous #perennial flowers all summer. It enjoys full sun and poor to moderately fertile soil.
#plantoftheweek #Potentillathurberi #MonarchsVelvet ... See more

This fantastic picture of late-ripening blight resistant Salt Spring Sunrise tomatoes from our Heritage Seed Library was sent to us by Seed Guardian, Adam. As we continue to work on the 2019 #HSL seed list we'd love you to share any pictures of this year's HSL successes that you've still got growing on your veg plot... ... See more

We have two types of #Plantain for our #WeedyWednesday plant this week - Greater Plantain Plantago major & Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata.

Both are found in #lawns and paths, and both are #perennial weeds with strong roots. But did you know they are also a useful herb?

Greater Plantain: #Herbalists use the leaves to stem bleeding in small wounds, as well as to soothe insect bites and stings.

Ribwort Plantain: A #tea or #syrup from the leaves is used as a cough medicine. A poultice may also relieve stings and skin irritations.

#weedoftheweek #WeedyWednesday #GreaterPlantain #RibwortPlantain ... See more

Weedy Wednesday - Plantain There are two plantains in the garden – the Ribwort and the Greater. Both are found in lawns and paths, and both are perennial weeds with strong roots. But did you know they are also a useful herb? In this weekly series, we take a quick look at common garden weeds. How the... ... See more

The remainder of our 2017 #organic #gardening #courses are booking up fast. For information on all our upcoming courses, including our popular Introduction to Organic Veg Growing taking place on 14th September visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk/our-courses ... See more

Our Courses Filter Selection: All (Default) Ryton Events Open Gardens Local Events Courses Introduction to Seed Saving This introduces the basic principles of seed saving, including growing annual plants to seed, harvesting, drying, cleaning and storage. Crops will be looked at growing in-... ... See more

#simpleswitch No.1 - Buy peat free compost!

Peat comes from an ancient habitat, which would take 1000's of years to restore – something we can never do in our or our children’s lifetimes.

Extracting the peat destroys rare wildlife and their support systems. Always choose a compost which is ‘peat free’ and has the organic symbol.
#simpleswitch #ChooseOrganic #organicseptember ... See more

Our first #Fridaytip of the month is to remind you that there's still time to sow #winter #salad leaves, such as lambs lettuce, land cress and oriental leaves. Beware, #slugs are still active in warm, wet autumn nights - check your barriers and traps nightly.

Now is also a good time to order fresh garlic cloves and onion sets now, ready for winter #planting. #helloautumn #planningahead #fridaytip ... See more

Throughout this month we'll be supporting the Soil Association with #OrganicSeptember.

We know many of you would like to grow #organically but either don’t know where to start, or worry that you don’t have the time. That’s where we come in! We’re here to support your best intentions to grow #sustainably and #healthily.

During #OrganicSeptember we'll be sharing our simple switches to get you started on the organic way - which one by one, will build up your organic growing.

#simpleswitch #ChooseOrganic #organicseptember ... See more

And an excellent Boston squash by Jayne Moore in north wales: 55" circumference and 22" high! (apples underneath for scale)

Oliver Harbury did well with the Chocolate Cherry seed!

A few people have asked us about how to dry their Gigantes and Czar beans ready for winter - if you're wondering, here's some quick instructions. French beans (end of season leftovers or crops grown specifically for dry use) are treated just the same way.

HARVESTING YOUR SOUP BEANS

Harvest the pods once they start to turn papery/dry (or if the weather is as soggy there as it is here, when they’re definitely leathery and are turning brown). Bring them indoors and dry somewhere cool with a good airflow until the pods are reasonably dry. (At this stage a polytunnel or greenhouse with good ventilation is fine, but beware of mice.)

Then shell the beans out and dry them further again somewhere cool with good airflow.

At this point (especially if they're for cooking) you can then just store them in a paper bag in a kitchen cupboard and unless your house is very damp, they'll be absolutely fine.

If you're keeping aside seeds to sow, they need to be dry to the point where if you bite on them (with care for your teeth!) they break rather than dent. Follow the instructions on the page below to get them properly dry for storage. ... See more

How to dry your vegetable seed at home, so that it keeps well. Free DIY seed-drying instructions from RealSeeds.

Triffids!! The Amaranth and Quinoa are almost ready to harvest 🙂

A few people have been in touch asking about things to sow now. It's a great time to put in winter salads, oriental greens and lots of other things. Have a look at our summer/autumn sowing page for more suggestions 🙂
http://realseeds.co.uk/summersowing2.html ... See more

The most colourful bit of our seed crops - Here's Tam weeding the marigolds in front of the Amaranth bed 🙂

Seed harvest at the barn: Kate and Josie with "Early Prolific Straightneck" squash - after axing the fruit open, the seeds are scooped out by hand, then washed to get rid of the pulp and put in a cabinet with a fan blowing air over them to dry out. After being germination-tested by Catherine, they'll be packed up by Tam or Ian ready for the new catalogue in November. ... See more

Trial cabbage "Nadzeya" from Belarus is getting huge! If it hearts up this big it should be quite impressive . . .

Its a busy but satisfying time at Real Seeds right now - everything is ripening at once. Here's Ian collecting a fantastic harvest of Wautoma Cucumber from one of the polytunnels. All the new seed should be processed, tested and packed in time for the new season starting in November. ... See more

Wow!

3st 1lb from your boston seed