Nearly Christmas

Blogging isn't my strong point, maybe I should make it my new years resolution.... Write more blogs!

The winter wheat is all drilled and growing, got 2 varieties this year, KWS Lili and some more Relay. However, I decided a bit back to give spring wheat another go. "Lets put it in after sugar beet and have another hit at the blackgrass." The rep recommended Mulika and Belepi. I've gone for Mulika, hope I've done right....

Oh yea, the sugar beet. It's all harvested and been taken to the factory. Harvest was a bit late due to being messed around with parts for the beet harvester, but a road trip to Norfolk later and I got the beet harvester going. All went well until the rain came and delayed things for 4 or 5 days. Then the beet went in last week. :)

All the winter ploughing is done now, so ready for Christmas and a nice rest.

Harvest is over and a new season begins

When things finally got going, this year, they didn't stop and my blog has suffered because of it. I did manage to update Facebook so hopefully that will help to fill in the big gap I've left.

Harvest went well with only a couple of minor breakdowns. The oilseed rape was disappointingly average at a tonne and a half an acre but the oils were good. The peas were the same, average at a tonne and a half but good colour and size. The wheat yield has been good at 3.6 to 3.7 tonnes an acre with good quality to it. Hopefully a few extra pounds a tonne premium on it..... So just the sugar beet left and that won't be long.

The new crop of oilseed rape has struggled. Drilled at the start of September, the flea beetle and slugs haven't been kind to us. But I'm still hoping it will make a crop. The plants are small but I think there's enough of them. So now it's time to think about the wheat....

We've cultivated the fields and tried to encourage the blackgrass to grow so it can be sprayed off before the new crop is drilled. Keeping my fingers crossed that I've made a dent in the numbers, and hoping to start drilling next week. The showery weather is stopping me spraying but I hope to get caught up in the next day or two. Sugar beet harvest is planned for the start of November.

Is it really spring?

A lovely weeks weather allowed us to get on, Nitrogen spread on the wheats, P & K spread on the peas, and sugar beet drilled.

However, that was followed by last week. Cold, windy and at times wet! Just when I've got the oilseed rape to spray and the T1 to spray on the wheats. The rain will have helped chit the sugar beet, but there was very nearly no sugar beet as I watched the neighbours field, awaiting potato planting, start to blow the top soil. Memories of dad redrilling the beet after wind blew half the field away came flooding back.....

Really need the weather to settle down now, especially when the sugar beet pops up with all the weeds, need some still weather for spraying it. So fingers crossed this week is better and things can progress again.....

Still playing catch up......

Spring is still throwing up surprises, first it didn't want to warm up and now it doesn't want to stay dry.....

Finally we have the peas drilled and rolled in. I'm sealing them in with Linzone and Stomp as soon as I can. However, the frost last night has put me off drilling any sugar beet just yet. Also have to be careful with the wind blowing the fen soil away and the seed with it.....

Our neighbour has started spreading second dose of nitrogen on the wheats, and we'll follow suit this week.

So plenty to catch up on, I know the forecast says it will be a dry week but after last week, when dry days were wet and wet days were dry, I'm not gonna plan too far ahead....