David's Digest

We managed to get a little spring drilling done at the end of last week - a few sugar beet and a few beans. Even that meant working through the weekend but seedbeds were good and they went in pretty well.
Then the balmy sunshine ended and we were back to winter again. As elsewhere, here in Norfolk we had sharp and unpleasant showers of rain, sleet, hail and snow and no further land work has been possible. Nor does it look likely before next weekend and by then another lot of rain is forecast.
It is of, course, too early to panic. It is only three quarters of the way through March. But my father (and probably his father too) used to say that March dust is worth a guinea an ounce and, decimalisation apart, that is as true today as it ever was.
The best crops are usually those that have the longest growing season and early drilling is a prerequisite. Once the calendar rolls round towards April thoughts inevitably turn to "cuckoo barley" and lower yields. So, let us hope the end of March is as good as the beginning and allows us get our 2007 crops off to a reasonable start.