I’ve been out to talk to The Kitchen Garden Plant Centre about pursuing a dream and growing herbs.
A nursery owner once told me of her fears for the industry’s future. She and several of her fellow growers were nearing retirement and no one was taking their place. The Kitchen Garden Plant Centre is one that’s more than taking up the challenge.
Founded just four years ago by Neil and Niamh Jones, it’s already picked up a clutch of RHS awards for show displays from Malvern to Tatton, and this year makes its Chelsea debut.
It is, Neil tells me, a dream come true: “I’ve always wanted to own a nursery and do Chelsea Flower Show. It’s going to be fun.”
It’s quite an achievement for a small nursery that put on its first show display at the 2018 Malvern Autumn Show. This year is going to be the busiest yet with a long list of show dates planned.
Neil’s loved growing plants since childhood, selling them from his front gate for pocket money, and working in nurseries from the age of 13. However, in his early twenties he broke his hip in an accident and moved away from horticulture. Meeting Niamh, an occupational therapist, saw him pick up his horticultural career again.
“She believes anything is possible, so why not have a garden centre, or perhaps a nursery, and why not go to Chelsea and try for the coveted Chelsea gold.”
A five-year search for the right site ended when they took on a derelict former raspberry nursery at Newent. Clearing it was a mammoth task: “It was full of greenhouses. We must have moved 20 skips full of rubbish.”
Neil now has five polytunnels with a sixth under construction when I visit. “I though one would be big enough for me,” he says ruefully.
They are used to grow a range of herbs – more than 100 at the last count – most from seed or cuttings with only tiny plug plants brought in occasionally to grow on. All are raised peat and chemical-free.
Even this early in the season the staging – set waist-high so Neil doesn’t have to bend – is beginning to fill up with plants.
Bronze fennel is sporting new foliage, rosemary is already in flower and there are thymes of every colour. ‘Archers Gold’ is bright in the low February light, there’s the wonderfully furry ‘Woolly Thyme’ and ‘Foxley’, which looks as though it’s been splattered with pink and cream paint.
Most are culinary herbs but there’s lavender and Neil shows me ‘Vera’, which is used in essential oils. The scent is the strongest lavender I’ve encountered.
Alongside is Japanese peppermint, which is used to produce menthol oil. The leaves do taste exactly like mints.
Neil’s top herbs to grow are basil, mint, lovage, which is good in soups, and salad burnett.
“It has a sort of nutty cucumber taste to it and is very easy to grow.”
Plants are grown on capillary matting for efficient water use and there’s an automatic watering system. Even so, Neil spends hours in the tunnels, picking over plants, nipping out growing tips to make them bushy, and checking for signs of pest or disease.
Outside, the couple are gradually clearing the site and turning it into a series of gardens, including a meditation garden. There will also be a food forest with layers of crop-producing plants from fruit trees down to potatoes.
At the moment, The Kitchen Garden Plant Centre isn’t open to the public and sells at shows – it will be at Cardiff, Malvern, Chatsworth, Hampton Court, Gardeners’ World Live, Taunton, Wisley and Rosemoor this year, as well as Chelsea.
However, their plans do not stop at Chelsea. An open day, mail order service and extending the range to include soft fruit are all in the pipeline. Seeing how much they’ve achieved in just a few years, it will be interesting to see where they are in another five.
For more information on The Kitchen Garden Plant Centre and where you can see them, visit the website.
You can read about more of my nursery visits here.
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