Photos by John McVitty

The mostly dry Spring weather might not have been great for grass growth but it has enabled farmers to progress with cultivations of crops and get on with their fieldwork.

The generally wet winter has given way to a fairly dry April with plenty of sunshine, even though there are cold nights.

Near Garvary last week, the Wilson family members were using their trusty Super Fordson Major tractor and David Brown potato dropper to plant maincrop potatoes. The variety used was mostly Kerr's Pinks.

Noel, Cecil and Gary Wilson took advantage of the fine weather conditions at the end of last week to finish ground cultivations and make the drills for the crop.

It was reported that soil conditions were excellent and the good drying weather conditions helped greatly.

This was a scene common throughout Fermanagh decades ago but few farmers now plant their own potatoes, even for their own use.

For even gardeners, there has been an upsurge in vegetable growing since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 and the trend for more home growing has continued this year.

There was also ploughing done for reseeding grass on some farms to improve grass yields.

Many livestock farmers have been finishing spreading slurry and getting on with fertiliser spreading to boost the grass yields. Then any fields where there has been surface damage will be rolled before gates are closed until silage harvesting time.