Market Garden

While feeding chickens, picking apples and drinking tea, we chatted about our ideas. Together we wanted to encorporate a veg box scheme into the existing regenerative model of the farm. We dreamt of a garden teeming with life, biodiversity and a range of delicious veg. Our aim has always been to provide high quality veg grown in a system that benefits the land it comes from and the people connected to it. Wonderful healthy vegetables with minimal food miles, minimal packaging.

To make this dream a reality, Liz started by finding inspiration and knowledge from other growers around the world, each on their own regenerative journeys. One key idea is to protect and build on the life in the soil. It might not seem like much, but soil is incredibly important and key to all other forms of life. In just one teaspoon of soil, there can be more microbes than there are people on the planet. From this comes higher levels of biodiversity including insects, birds, reptiles, small mammals - and us humans too! That’s why the garden is no-dig. Instead of ploughing, we top up the beds with compost and create paths with woodchip. We aim to minimise our inputs and nearly all work is done by hand using simple tools. We do not use chemical fertilisers or pesticides - instead we look to nature for solutions. 

The first beds were laid with the help of our lovely volunteers back in autumn 2022. Since then the garden has grown and now provides weekly veg boxes throughout the growing season. Our journey continues and we aim to improve on what we do every year. We are not certified organic, but grow to and even above organic standards. Being certified is costly and we don't want to have to pass this cost on to our customers. We are transparent about our methods and always aim to do our best. This year we are focusing on increasing soil life with the use of ammendments, increasing our range of veg and learning how to store food to continue harvests through the winter.