Fruit & Vegetable Gardens
Food meters not miles!
When Tony and Tricia were bringing up their children, Matt, Ben and Vicki, they grew their own vegetables, so they knew where they came from and what was making them grow!
Since then the kitchen garden has taken on a new lease of life with the estate team coming along – Ryan (Estate Manager) Heather (Environmental Tutor) and Jonathan (assistant gardener). With help from others including WWOOFERS (Workers on an organic farm) throughout the year, we now produce on average £800 worth of veg per month, all grown organically using the Charles Dowding ‘No Dig Way’.
Heather takes every course into the kitchen garden for the Garden To Table activity starting in the new Apple Store. Depending on the time of year the activity will include learning about organic gardening, composting, planting and harvesting the veg.
Here’s a list of what we grow
Salads
Oriental Mizuna, Giant red mustard, Salad Rocket, Little gem lettuce, Salad bowl lettuce, Lolla rossa lettuce, Winter density lettuce, Rainbow chard, Nasturtium, Pea shoots.
Herbs
Basil “Genovese”, Basil “Purple”, Coriander, Wild thyme, marjoram, Parsley, Mint, Sage, Rosemary.
Vegetables
Asparagus, Beetroot, Russian kale, Broad bean, Peas, Peppers, White sprouting broccoli, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Spring cabbage, ‘Derby Day’ summer cabbage, ‘Holland winter’ winter cabbage, ‘Tundra’ winter cabbage, ‘January King’ winter cabbage, Carrots, Amabile Cauliflower, Courgette, Cucumber, Fennel, French beans, Garlic, Leeks, ‘Sunburst’ squash, Butternut squash, Pumpkin, ‘Turks Turban’ squash, Onion, Red onion, Spring onion, Rainbow chard, Kale Borecole, Parsnip, Mange Tout, Sugar snap, Sweet pepper, Chilli pepper, Potato, Radish, Runner bean, Spinach, Swedes, Sweetcorn, Tomato, Turnip.
Fruit
Apples, Pears, Plums, Apricots, Peaches, Grapes, Raspberries, Blackcurrants, Blueberries & Strawberries.
We offer all visiting residential school the chance to partake in our garden to table activity. The children can learn all about seasonal vegetables, pick them, taste some different salad leaves and understand why we grow everything organically. We find that groups who have a Garden to Table activity included in their programme generally leave less food waste at meal times.