The First Year – Establishment
We’ve dedicated 12 acres of Hammonds Farm to our market garden. That is a lot, and we didn’t plan to work it all in the first year! To start, we have 20 beds of annuals using Zerodig principles as well as some more Zerodig beds for perennials. We also have 8 plots of min-till and a small polytunnel to help propagate and extend the season (and where we grow our delicious tomatoes and coriander).
Rosie joined the team full time as head grower in early 2022 and has since been joined by Stuart and Athene who support her and make sure she doesn’t go mad speaking to her plants!
We started a small Veg Bag subscription which went on as long as we had enough vegetables for it to be meaningful to our customers (which turned out to be until November).
The subscription was £15 per week for a bag of 6-8 seasonal, chemical free and delicious vegetables. If you are interested in taking part for this season (starting in May, weather permitting!), please sign up on Ooooby here.
At the end of last year we took the plunge and went big on polytunnels. Even though our first one (see photo above) felt ok, the three that have sprung up next to it make it look quite small! As with the min-till beds, we won’t be diving in to all three completely this coming season but it certainly gives us a lot more capacity!
