market garden Archives - Tamarisk Farm - West Bexington Nr Bridport

Market Gardening opportunity at Tamarisk Farm

Our market garden is about an acre with over 400 m² protected cropping. Possibilities for working a larger area can be discussed. The business would market as part of Tamarisk Farm and would be certified with the rest of the farm by the Soil Association. Additional projects such as arable, baking, education, care farming or other ideas would be happily considered.

Who we are
Those who know the farm from years past will remember Arthur and Josephine Pearse who founded Tamarisk in the 60s. It has been organic since Soil Association certification began, starting as a small organic market garden, growing to ~600 acres of two thirds National Trust land. About 100 acres in an arable rotation with grain going to local watermills or sold direct to the public, with excess grain fed to a small flock of laying hens. The rest is conservation grazing (now largely SNCI and PFLA) supporting native breeds of cattle and sheep for a plethora of meat and wool products. Future projects include our newly planted nut groves and making better use of our orchard. Public access and nature conservation is fundamental to what we do.

Our farm team is Leila and Ben Scriven, and Adam and Ellen Simon (Leila’s parents) with Rowan Watkins working particularly with the arable.

What we’re offering
Sadly we are losing our vegetable grower at the end of this season; however we see this as an opportunity for a newcomer to develop their own ideas within the farm. We do not wish to be prescriptive or dictate how the market garden is run or what is produced and would love to hear your own ideas, including other enterprises on the farm if desired. Produce has been sold primarily to local restaurants and shops and in limited quantities through our farm shop, but a box scheme or CSA are options.

Details

Agricultural equipment and expertise is on hand
All land available for horticulture is rented from us directly at a rate to be negotiated
The garden is currently 1 acre overall with ~60 m² propagation tunnel, >400 m² of polytunnels (of which 300 m² is reserved for sheep in January and February), a tool shed and a small packing shed.
No part of the market garden is further than 350 m from the packing shed with road access between them
All land is south facing and coastal: exposed to Atlantic wind but virtually frost free
Metered mains water available throughout, as well as free water from a large pond for part of the year.
Soil in the established market garden is good, having been nurtured for decades, but increasing the area under cultivation would involve moving onto less improved heavy ground
There is some manure available from the winter housing of stock and we are often given wood chip by local tree surgeons
Additional protected cropping is possible but larger areas would require planning permission as we are in a “National Landscape” (formerly AONB)

Accommodation
We can offer a basic shepherd’s hut and know of a few other possibilities in the area.

Contact Us
Please email farm@tamariskfarm.co.uk with a little bit about yourself.

From Winter to Summer (Bridport Times, April 2020)

We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.

Written by Ellen Simon

April is the changeover from winter to summer. In the winter the animals depend on us for their food and comfort. Most of them, all the ones indoors, would be knee deep in muck if we didn’t clear it away for them and give them fresh bedding; they would be without food unless we gave it to them, and that depends on our having saved the grass from last summer. In summer, by contrast, the animals are all outdoors and don’t really need us. We see them daily but, if all is well, that is all we do: we look, we see that they are comfortable and that they seem happy and we leave them to themselves. April is the month by which the big change-around has happened. It is a relief to finally return to the summer pattern; we have by now become weary of feeding and bedding and it is a pleasure to see the animals enjoying the weather and the sweet spring grass. For the vegetables, there is an equivalent shift around now. Through the winter and well into spring we are dependant on last year’s plants and last year’s work and now we are setting out this year’s and just beginning to crop the earliest of them.

The Seeds We Sow (Bridport Times, March 2019)

We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.

Written by Rosie Gilchrist

Without seeds a vegetable garden has few plants and without plants there are no vegetables to eat, and that would be a very sad thing. Choosing seeds, sowing and nurturing them feels like the foundation of a vegetable garden. There are some vegetables such as tubers and cuttings that we propagate by other means but certainly most vegetables are annuals, grown from seed every year. With equal certainty, seed propagation is one of my favourite jobs around the market garden.

Putting the garden to bed (Bridport Times, November 2018)

We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.

I often get asked by people what on earth I grow over the winter. There is a pretty strong misconception that not much can manage over winter, and although it’s true that there is less variety of things that grow, and that what is in the ground really slows down, there is still a lot that’s harvestable and a lot to do in the garden regardless!