It’s been a long, cold and wet winter – but finally it looks like spring is here, and things are starting to come to life on the Tiptree farm!
And just because most of the crops haven’t yet arrived, doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy.
Water conservation is hugely important to us here at Tiptree. We’re in the driest part of the driest county in England – so making sure we have enough water for our crops is key. We have seven reservoirs on the farm – and with all the recent rain, we’re pleased to say that each one is full to bursting. This is really important – and means that we will have enough water to irrigate all our crops for the forthcoming season.
Rhubarb is one of our earliest crops, and we’re delighted with how it’s looking for this season. This distinctive English vegetable – no, it’s not a fruit – goes into two of our most popular products, the tangy and warming Rhubarb with Ginger Conserve and the sharp yet sweet Rhubarb with Vanilla Conserve. The below video shows Dan, our Farm Co-ordinator, inspecting this years crop.
Our main crop here on the farm though is Strawberries – and we have some big news for this season! We’ve invested significantly in new strawberry growing capacity, and the new polytunnels are now covered and being filled with strawberry plants. These polytunnels have an innovative guttering system to collect rainwater so that not a drop goes to waste!
Of course, it’s no good growing more fruit if we don’t have skilled workers on site to pick it – and March saw the first arrivals of our seasonal workforce. We’ll have another influx in May just as the strawberries come into season – we look forward to welcoming them all to the Tiptree community.
