Big Berta Cruises Through Our Kales With Ease

Berta Flail Mower Proves its Worth

Jacob giving the Berta flail mower its first outing

It took a little while from its purchase in January to get our new Berta flail mower up and running—and Big Berta is now her official nickname—but everything finally fell into place for her maiden voyage on Tuesday afternoon, when we were able to put her through her paces for the first time. And she did not disappoint. We harvested the very last of last year’s kale leaves in the morning, and this is usually the point at which we would spend a good deal of time chopping each kale plant at the base, collecting the very tough stalks and putting them to one side while wondering how best to break them up efficiently. These stalks are far too thick for the compost heap, would take several years to break down, and we don’t own a wood chipper to deal with them.

This is where Big Berta really comes into her own. All those jobs can now be combined into one. With a single pass over the kales as they stand in their beds—hey presto—they are finely chopped and left in place as a mulch on the soil surface, where they can quickly break down and return nutrients to the ground. No chopping individual stalks by hand, no further processing, and no wheelbarrowing waste off the beds. Berta is a substantial piece of kit, costing £2,000, and her purchase was only made possible thanks to the generous donations from our Friends of MVMG over Christmas and the New Year. So once again, thank you to all our Friends. We will make very good use of Big Berta—not just on kales, but on any crops we want to dispose of quickly and efficiently in situ. We are confident she will be of service for many years to come, saving many valuable hours along the way.

The sun didn’t only shine on our new piece of kit this week, though—it also gave us the excuse to uncover the garlic that was planted back in November. The covers have protected the plants from the worst of the winter weather, as well as from inquisitive birds and rabbits that might otherwise pull them up. They are big enough now that we’re less worried about either weather or pests, and they’re all looking pretty splendid for this time of year, as you can see in the picture below.

Garlic standing tall