On Friday 23rd March a group of 25 growers from all over Scotland attended the plant-raising training day at Growing with Nature. Organised by Lyn Matheson of Soil Association Scotland the day came about after feedback from growers following a talk given by Alan Schofield in Aberdeen, the previous September.
One of the major problems with small-scale direct marketing initiatives is continuity of supply and with only small quantities of plants required on a regular basis the most cost effective option is to raise them on site. Alan and Debra have been raising transplants at his nursery in Pilling for 20 years. Using this experience the day was set out to explore the options available to growers. The morning began with a presentation in the new packhouse at GwN. This explained the differences between block-raised, modular and bare root transplants, and detailed the crops suitable for each system. Various methods of germination, growing on with and without heat and watering techniques were explored with many questions being asked after the presentation.
A hearty 3 course organic lunch cooked by the staff at GwN was enjoyed by all. It was then time to view the various topics that had been talked about in the morning session. As we all know there is no substitute for the hands-on approach and most delegates enjoyed making blocks and multi seeding the onion crop that was being sown on the day.
The major point of interest was the Heath Robinson inspired germination cabinet, home-made some 18 years ago to “get us through this season” prior to building a new one. Alan’s approach of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” has meant the box has now seen 18 seasons and raised over 1.5 million plants in that time. Innovation has always been the hallmark of organic horticulturists and the bottom heated sand bed is no exception. Designed to supply localised heat to tomato and cucurbit transplants without the need for the whole glasshouse to be heated, this also attracted a great deal of attention.
After a day of intense input the growers headed north on their 5-7 hour journeys’ home at 4 p.m., but not until after Debra had shocked Alan with an early 50th birthday present of a mixture of TV appearances by himself in the mid 80’s to early 90’s on DVD - and lo and behold star of the show was the germination cabinet in it’s first year of use (not to mention a very young-looking, slimline version of Alan!)
Prior to leaving many of the delegates said that they were going home to build a germination box, as this had been their major obstacle in the past. Alan’s comment was - ‘How satisfying it is to know that people who attend such days go home with enthusiasm and inspiration to carry on changing the world in our own small but very significant way.’
And the quote of the day... that goes to the Scot who was overheard during lunch joking with Debra and Lyn that ‘The next time such events are run there is no need to send me the itinerary of the day - just send out the menu for lunch!’
This was going to be a hard one to beat!