Organic Produce
Growing Organically - The White Stuff
Well! What a winter so far! As I sit in the warm and write this, I can hear the rain falling on the roof of my shed (office) and there are still glimpses of the snow on the roadside that once covered our centre and ground everything to a halt for what seemed like an age over Christmas.
The joy upon first seeing huge white flakes fall from the sky was quickly forgotten when our cars started to skid and regular news bulletins scared us into staying in. But, as if from a scene from Narnia, the snow finally melted away and we could see grass once more! I’d almost forgotten what it looked like. Now we are back to muddy boots and tackling the mass winter clear up the snow delayed.
So, wrapped up still in our winter woollies, we set to and cleared the dead and dying plants in the poly tunnel. Victims of the unheated poly included our glorious fennel, broad beans, peppers that didn’t quite make it to ripening stage, watercress and our nurtured from seed avocado trees. I don’t mind everything else but to lose these would be very sad. Of course, I should have known to put them somewhere warm over Christmas, but hindsight is a wonderful thing! However, the tunnel looks vastly more healthy and tidy now so a good start to the cold year.
Our top field has been neglected for a while as it was completely covered in snow and any excavations would be futile. And it would appear that lack of ground level vegetation drew local wildlife into its perimeters where they sated their hunger on our kale, leeks and sprouts. You can’t help but be enchanted by the glorious display of footprints in the snow. The pheasant footprint is particularly impressive. The extreme cold has completely destroyed our cauliflowers, cabbages and fennel. The celeriac never did grow beyond a shaggy mop of foliage above ground and the remaining parsnips seemed to have vanished altogether. On the plus side however, once the snow finally meIted, we were delighted to see that the tiny broad beans, that were just about poking their head through the soil lat year, have survive and the soil in general is weed free and looking fantastic for when we start to sow again.
Looking forward to the year ahead we have decided to lessen our bed numbers in the top field so that we can keep on top of the vegetables that we know work well here and grow a wildflower meadow in the space instead. We want to create an enchanted area for wildlife, for the clients and for visitors to sit and stay for a while.
We currently have a small selection of grow your own seedlings available in the front glasshouse. These include strawberries, chard and thyme. We will soon have cabbage seedlings for sale too.
To pick fresh to order are: rainbow chard, thyme, mint, rocket, mustard leaves and sprouts.
We will be returning to Walberton market in March and are scheduled to start trading at Slindon market at the end of February.
* * * * * *
We grow from seed a variety of salad, root, brassica, herbs and legume crops.
- We sell at the local Walberton market and will be selling at the Chichester farmers market
- We can provide a pick to order organic box scheme, available through the shop or via the telephone
- We strive to re-use and re-cycle in keeping with the Go Green ethos of the country centre. We re-cycle garden waste and turn it into compost and we gather seeds from previous crops.
- We ensure we grow fruit and vegetables in a way that is sensitive to the environment and can be achieved by our clients.
- We are establishing links with the local community allotment schemes and other charity fund raising projects.
Organic produce and seasonal organic boxes available.
Phone through your order to Jo Rea in the morning (01243 542075) and collect in the afternoon.
Please call to find out which vegetables are available.
If you can't find what you're looking for in the shop, please ask us and we'll pick is fresh for you.
