We grow over 50 types of vegetables, and over 200 varieties. Our production is geared towards supplying our CSA members with bountiful, and nicely varied veg shares year-round. We propagate almost all our own organic seeds, which we source from Tamar Organics, Sativa Bio, Smarties Bio, Vital Seeds, The Real Seed Catalogue, Just Seeds, Kings, and some from our own saved seeds or that of fellow local, organic growers.
Salad Leaves
A weekly fixture in the veg share. We grow a large number of salad leaves, suited to the different season, to ensure consistent supply throughout the year. We also grow some head lettuce, endive nd radicchio to mix it up. Our mixed salad is always a lovely reflection of the season. To give an idea:
Spring – the first lettuces, mustards, mizunas, rockets, watercress, chervil, corn salad, & peashoots.
Summer – big mix of lettuce, endive, summer purslane, agretti, wild rocket, bulls blood & plantain.
Autumn – big mix of lettuce, endive, & chicories, with mustards, mizuna, rockets & plantain.
Winter – chicories, winter purslane, cresses, mustards, mizunas, rockets, chervil, lettuce & endive.
Greens
Another weekly staple. We grow several varieties of kales and leaf beets (chard) throughout the year, to give regular and varied supply. We also grow true spinach, New Zealand spinach, and mustard greens at certain times of year when they grow well.
‘Lunch box’ veg
Whether you or your kids have a lunch box or not, we think that this is a valid category – fresh, tasty, popular veg that are really good eaten raw – cucumbers, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, summer radish, celery, young carrots. We will try to put something in that fits this bill as much as possible, but inevitably there’s slimmer pickings in the winter.
Summer staples
Summer is short enough as it is, and we know how much everyone values the summer veg, so we aim to grow in abundance and offer a plentiful share of the harvest to our CSA members. We grow many varieties of tomato (big, small, stripey, colourful…), and lots of cucumbers, aubergines, courgettes, French beans, and sweet peppers..
Herbs
From early summer through into autumn we grow lots of basil and flat leaf parsley which will regularly be in the veg shares. More occasionally there’ll be dill and coriander too, plus some of the perennial herbs – sage, thyme, rosemary, mint, and bay.
Roots
We grow lots of nice, young bunching roots (especially carrots and beetroot) through summer into autumn. To go into late autumn and winter, we grow a mix of storage carrots and beets, alongside celeriac, parsnips, swede, and winter radish. We’ll grow a number of quick crops of summer radish and fresh turnips through the year too.
Alliums
The onion family is another staple, as so much begins with them in the kitchen. We grow lots of onions, shallots and leeks in particular, and spring onions too. We harvest and dry our garlic, and give all members a big plait of it once a year.
Seasonal specials
We grow loads of other vegetables that will come and go in the veg shares through the year. Some have a short season, some we just grow for occasional harvest. We try to make best use of the space we’ve got to offer as interesting a veg share as possible. So, in no particular order, we also grow broad beans, runner beans, sugar snap peas, fennel, celery, sweetcorn, chillies and Padron peppers, calabrese (broccoli), cabbages (summer hispi, savoy, January King, red, and napa), winter squash, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and cauliflowers.
Fruit
Whilst what we offer is principally a share of vegetables, we do also grow a variety of fruit, which make brief, but delicious appearances through the year. We grow rhubarb, strawberries, blackcurrants, and eating apples. Plus the very occasional peach!