Cobbs Farm Update: April 2022
After a little taste of the sun in March…
When we were all able to finally feel the warmth of the sun after a long winter, things have been more unsettled and somewhat chillier! Those early Spring warm days can be very dangerous on the farm – bringing to life all those tender new shoots; whether Vines or Asparagus, before inevitably being hit by later frosts.
This year (to date!) things feel like they are in the right place – the Asparagus beds are still fast asleep with the soil temperature still too low to bring things back to life.
When things start to warm up over the next few weeks, the Asparagus will race ahead and we anticipate a start to the 2022 harvest in about 10days time – watch this space for further updates, as well as info on how you can come and Pick Your Own Asparagus at the weekends here at Cobbs.
The Vines have now all been pruned and tied down.
Whilst the sap is very definitely rising, there is little bud growth activity meaning we’re still not at risk from the overnight frosts. We’re a long way from being out of the woods yet and will be monitoring these precious plants very closely in the coming weeks, ready to deploy our frost protection system at a moment’s notice.
Our delicious outdoor Rhubarb is producing its first, tender & sweet stalks.
We have a huge amount of Rhubarb coming in the next few weeks, which you’ll find in all our shops and on our café menus. Outdoor Rhubarb does possess different qualities than forced Rhubarb – but equally delicious!
In other news, all 15,000 Pumpkin and Squash seeds have been sent off for propagation and we’ll be aiming to have these in the ground from mid-May onwards.