Market garden research

The end of 2014 welcomed a new job for Stephen: that of employment with the Riverside market garden project through the diversification grant scheme. This project was funded by Welsh government to assist small scale ecological enterprises to develop their business through the exploration of diversity within the system.

Stephen approached the project through agro-ecological strategies, establishing a forest garden at the back of the market garden, on a patch of land unsuitable for vegetable cultivation. This involved the planting of over 50 fruit trees, all grafted at Coed hills from over 30 different varieties of apple, as well as the planting of over 150 fruit bushes and hundreds of ground cover plants.

Here is a downloadable link to a full report written for the market garden regarding the diversification project.

full-report-riverside-market-garden-word-doc

The most useful resources in this will be the case studies towards the back, the apple tree references and planting protocol, and well as case studies on the unusual products at the back of the report.