Today’s gardening session began with digging over and weeding the raised bed in preparation for planting in Spring. We cleared the area a couple of weeks ago, but some weeds had sprouted since, and we left the soil a bit uneven! While digging, we found various bits of rubbish, which we put aside to throw away later, as well as lots of snail shells and some insects!

Once the soil was level, we started sowing seeds. The first step was to fill our trays with compost. We made sure to make the texture fine with our hands, to allow the roots to move easily through the compost. When our trays were full, we decided which seeds we wanted to sow. We sowed Aubergine seeds, Tomato seeds, Peppers, some Broccoli and Giant Leeks.

We made sure we spread the seeds out evenly in the compost, and then covered them with a thin layer of compost. We made sure to label each tray with the name of the seeds and the date, and then we gently watered them in. Next we put them in a covered area, where the seeds will be protected from the cold wind, and will be kept warmer than if they were left outside.

Next, there was weeding to do! All over the farm there are various weeds in areas where we want to plant, so we started working on the area underneath the fruit trees, by the railway track. We gathered lots of Cleavers (also known as Sticky Willy, Sticky Weed, and Goosegrass) in pots.

The great thing about weeding on a farm, is that the weeds don’t go to waste! We went up to the farmyard and fed the chickens and geese the Cleavers - what a treat!