The Organic Grower Podcast

James speaks to Jayne Arnold of Oxton Organics in Worcestershire. Oxton Organics has undergone a number of transformations over the years and James and Jayne discuss this, but the bulk of the conversation focuses on Jayne’s experiments with green manures. Jayne talks about the benefits of green manures, establishment, undersowing, species selection and seed mixes, key dates and methods of terminat...

James speaks to Alice Rixon a.k.a. The Veg Lady, based in Chettle, Dorset. We  really wanted to hear from someone at the start of their growing journey to talk through the challenges and thinking of starting out with their own horticultural business. Alice talks about how she is setting up the growing space (where she’s combining polytunnels, market garden and field-scale from the get go), the thi...

Back to today’s episode, James speaks to Jean-Martin Fortier. And boy did we manage to pack a lot into this one. James ended up speaking to JM on his phone outside the packing shed at FQT farm so the sound isn’t perfect but hopefully the content more than makes up for that. We talk about the limits and sweet spots of human-scale market gardening, training new-entrant growers to do the work require...

In this episode James speaks to Connie Hunter and Tom Booth from East Neuk Market Garden. We talk about how they have developed their site and growing systems over the last 6 years, the particularities of their climate on the East Coast of Scotland, farming as a couple and their recent forays into collaborative farming with nearby business Falkland Kitchen Farm. There’s also some top tips for dry-...

In this episode James speaks to Laurence Jarrett-Kerr of Soul Farm. Laurence started the business 6 years ago and has grand plans for the years ahead. We chat about combining home-grown veg with bought in produce, managing costs and some deep thoughts on profitability and entrepreneurship. The perennial issue of scale also features prominently as we dig in to Laurence’s plans to grow the business,...

In this episode James speaks to Rosanna Catterall and Signe Jensen from Knepp Market Garden. We discuss establishing a production horticulture enterprise in the middle of a substantial rewilding project, growing on heavy clay, aligning crop planning and sales, combining no-dig and min-till systems side by side, running a market garden as employees and Rosanna and Signe’s top tips for growing beetr...

In this episode, Jame speaks with Ashley Wheeler from Trill Farm Garden. Would you believe they have been going for 14 years now? We talk about how they have adapted their growing systems over that time, experimenting with field scale (although Ash questions whether that’s the right term!), setting up a new veg box scheme as an established market garden, all things radicchio and Ash’s reflections...

In this episode, James talks to Phil Sumption, a man of many hats (grower, researcher, adviser, writer and editor). We discuss how Phil got into organic horticulture, his portfolio of roles in the sector, his reflections on the history of organics over the last few decades, as well as the development of the Organic Growers Alliance and The Organic Grower magazine. Later on in the episode we talk a...

Today, we have a wonderful conversation with Iain Tolhurst a.k.a Tolly of Tolhurst Organics. It’s a long one but there are so many gems in here that I couldn’t possibly leave any of them out. The whole point of this podcast is to share knowledge among growers so if it takes you a few bites of the apple to get the end then so be it - it will be worth it! We talk about many of the things Tolly is we...

We have a belter of a conversation with Calixta Killander of Flourish Produce in Cambridgeshire. Calixta spent a number of years in the US, studying and growing before coming back to the UK to establish Flourish where they grow in the region of 35 acres of vegetables, all sold direct. And boy, has she gone far in a relatively short space of time. We talk about crop diversity, green manures, restin...

In episode 2 of the Organic Grower Podcast, we hear from Kate Collyns, founder and grower at Grown Green in Wiltshire. Kate set up the business in 2010 following a two-year Soil Association Horticultural Apprenticeship and now grows a wide range of vegetables, herbs, salads and flowers for her local market. Kate always has something interesting to say and this conversation is no exception. We talk...

In this episode James will be talking to Andy Dibben, head grower at Abbey Home Farm in Gloucestershire. Andy oversees an incredibly complex and well-honed system and manages to speak about it with clarity, passion, and honesty. This episode covers year-round crop production, growing in 1000sqm of glasshouse, cover crops, issues of scale, and Andy's top tips for growing parsnips and cauliflow...