HOME            COMPANY    PRODUCTION     PACKING     PROTOCOLS  CONTACTS  MESSAGE PROFILE CUSTOMERS PDO NEWS RECIPES SEASONALITY SEED PLASTIC PESTICIDES HARVESTING ORGANIC GROWERS ENVIRONMENT AUDITS EDUCATION 01/07/2008 Season Update 2008 has been a very challenging s(...) Read more... 13/05/2008 A Star is Born! The Morrisons DVD which was filmed(...) Read more... 13/05/2008 Harvesting Begins in Earnest After the poor weather of March & (...) Read more... 28/03/2008 1st Outdoor Harvest of 2008 The first outdoor crop of the seas(...) Read more... 28/03/2008 Morrisons to Film in Jersey On Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th of (...) Read more... 28/03/2008 Planting Update Planting of this year’s export cro(...) Read more... SEASONALITY The very earliest crops are planted in December in glasshouses or polytunnels. The earliest outdoor fields planted are the very steep south facing coastal slopes called côtils. These côtils are planted in the first or second weeks of January. Because of their steepness, aspect and proximity to the coast the soil is generally light, free draining, warms quickly and has some frost resistance. The steepness of the fields means that they are unsuitable for machinery and so they are ploughed and planted using hand ploughs pulled by a winch cable from the top of the côtil. These fields are therefore highly labour intensive and command the highest prices . The next fields to be planted are generally the lighter sloping soils of the western and southern coastal plains and the northern coastal fields. These are planted from mid January through to mid February. Planting then moves to the heavier inland soils which produce the later crops and the seed crops for the following year’s production. These fields tend to be larger and flat. Home | Company | Production | Packing | Protocols | News | Recipes | Contacts