Emily Hartley
Spring on a Cumbrian Holding
There is a particular week in March when the fell tops still wear a dusting of snow, the valley bottoms are sodden, and yet the light suddenly stretches out past six in the evening. That is when the itch starts. Every smallholder in Cumbria knows it: the urge to be out with a spade, a notebook, and a mug of tea, planning the season ahead. Spring preparations are not glamorous work, but they are the difference between a holding that limps through to June and one that hums along comfortably. The ground here is heavy, the rainfall generous, and the growing window shorter than most, so a bit of forward planning pays for itself many times over.
Test Your Soil Before You Touch a Seed Packet
Before you order anything, get a proper picture of what you are working with. Cumbrian soils vary wildly — acid fell-side ground, neutral valley loam, and pockets of clay that hold water like a bucket. A basic soil test kit from any agricultural merchant will tell you pH and the main nutrient levels, and it costs less than a bag of fertiliser.
Pay attention to pH in particular. Most vegetables want somewhere between 6.0 and 7.0, while brassicas do better slightly higher and potatoes will tolerate a touch of acidity. If your test comes back at 5.2, no amount of compost will fix the underlying problem until you apply lime. Work out the quantity properly, spread it in late winter or early spring, and let the rain wash it in. Lime moves slowly through the profile — this is a job you do now so that next year's crops benefit.
- Take at least ten cores from across the plot, mixed together, rather than one sample from the gate.
- Test the polytunnel separately — it behaves quite differently from open ground.
- Note down results in a notebook you will actually keep. Next spring you will thank yourself.
Service the Machinery While It Is Still Quiet
The worst time to discover a seized bearing is the morning you need the rotavator. Late winter is the right moment to go through everything methodically.
Drain and replace engine oil, check the air filter, and clean or replace the spark plug on anything petrol-driven. For the tractor or compact unit, check hydraulic fluid levels, grease every nipple you can find, and look hard at the belts for cracking. Sharpen chainsaw chains and check the tension. If the strimmer has been sitting with fuel in it since October, empty it and start fresh — stale petrol causes more spring headaches than anything else on the holding.
Hand tools deserve the same attention. A well-sharpened spade and a hoe with a tight head will save you hours of effort once the beds are ready. Oil the handles, tighten the ferrules, and replace anything that has gone past saving. Spending forty pounds on good tools now is cheaper than a physio appointment in May.
Order Seeds Early, and Order Sensibly
Seed catalogues arrive in January for a reason. Popular varieties sell out, and by the time you get round to ordering, the ones suited to a short growing season have often gone. Order in February if you can.
Think about what actually thrives here. Kale, leeks, brassicas, roots, and hardy salads all cope well with damp cool conditions. Tender crops like aubergines and peppers are worth growing, but only if you have reliable heat and a long polytunnel season ahead of them. Be honest about how much you will realistically tend — a smaller, well-managed plot beats a sprawling one that turns to weeds by July.
- Check germination rates on last year's leftover seed with a quick damp kitchen roll test.
- Buy seed potatoes and get them chitting in a cool, bright spot.
- Group orders with neighbours to share postage and split larger packets.
Repair Fences and Boundaries
Nothing escapes a field quite like a ewe that has found a loose wire. Walk every boundary line before stock moves onto fresh pasture. Look for sagging strainers, broken insulators, and posts that have rotted at ground level — that last one is easy to miss because the post still looks sound from above.
Check electric fencing energisers with a fence tester rather than a hand on the wire. Clean the earth stake connection, which corrodes quietly over winter. Gate latches and hinges benefit from a drop of oil, and a gate that swings shut properly will save you a hundred small frustrations. If you keep poultry, check the run netting for fox damage now, not after you have lost birds.
Clean the Water Supply
Water troughs are the most overlooked piece of infrastructure on any holding. Over winter they collect leaf litter, algae, and a surprising amount of silt. Empty each one, scrub it out with a stiff brush, and check the ball valve or nose pump is working properly. A trough that dribbles slowly will keep stock waiting and cause bunching, which leads to poaching and injury.
If you run a gravity-fed system from a beck or a spring, check the intake for debris and clear any screen. Test the flow rate at the far end of the line, because a partially blocked pipe will show up as low pressure at the last trough rather than the first. Clean water is the cheapest health measure you have.
Prepare Pasture Before Stock Move On
Rest is the most powerful tool in grassland management and the one most often ignored on smallholdings. Before you turn animals onto fresh ground, give it a chance. Ideally pasture should have three weeks of growth ahead of grazing, and it should not be grazed below four centimetres.
Walk the fields and pull any obvious weeds — docks, thistles, and rushes all spread fast if left. Chain harrow on a dry day to spread droppings and lift dead thatch, and roll only if the ground is firm enough that you are not making ruts. Divide larger fields with temporary electric fencing so you can rotate rather than set-stock. It takes an extra ten minutes a week and it will nearly double your available grazing by midsummer.
Get these jobs done in the quiet weeks and the rest of the season looks after itself. Spring rewards the prepared, and there is no better place to feel that than a Cumbrian valley waking up.
