Still wet. Still muddy. Still grumpy farmers. This is not just a Cambridgeshire problem, for anyone travelling around the country, no doubt you will have seen quite a lot of wet, soggy fields with not a lot of crops in them…..and everyone is getting a bit scratchy – if you see a farmer around, buy them a pint.
The main issue for this at the moment is that it is difficult to get on the land with tractors, because you might damage the soil… or, in extreme circumstances, get stuck. And getting stuck in a tractor is quite dramatic (just ask Peter).
We need to get on the land to fertilise the crops currently in the ground and to plant new crops. Tom is hoping to plant Spring Barley and sugarbeet. He has done a bit, but the windows before the rain comes are very short.
At work in Leicestershire, we have done nothing! And a lot of the crops we did plant in winter have failed due to the heavy rain, so need re-planting, so we have even more to do. There is a much “heavier” and more clayey soil type in Leicestershire which stays a lot wetter than the “lighter” chalkier soil we have at home. We also have (marginally) more rain and are a bit higher up and therefore colder. This means it takes longer for the soil to dry out and is a bit less forgiving.
Soil is made up of clay, sand and silt, and the ratio of these determines your “soil type”. At Allerton, we are firmly in the “clay” category. At Meads Farm, we are a bit more variable but more in the middle loamy category.
Your soil type determines a lot about your ability to grow crops and which crops you can grow. Land is then classified into Grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 based on soil, site and climate. This gives you an indication of how good it is at growing stuff and, in turn, indicates its value. Most of Meads is on Grade 2 land, whereas at work, we are more Grade 3 to Grade 4. You can change the health of your soil and influence this through lots of the practices we have talked about, but you cannot change your soil type.
More positivity will resume next month… hopefully… the rain is good for the trees we have planted and the new hedge!