Hi and welcome to 'Growing at altitude', my personal record of what is growing with Scotts Garden. As you now know I am the Scott of Scotts Garden and I want you to become inspired by what I am doing, to really share my passion for fresh local seasonal vegetables & fruit that just happens to be organic as well. I thought long and hard as to what to write as an introduction to Scotts Garden and then realised that I had already done just that for the OGA, for whom I am a founding committee member. Below is the article that I wrote for the launch of our magazine; The Organic Grower and I feel that it will allow you to visualise just what I am trying to do for our local community.

Let me start by introducing myself and explaining how I came to be writing an article for this, the inaugural edition of The Organic Grower. My name is Scott Sneddon and as a result of having known my landlords, the Maycocks, since moving to Matlock nearly a decade ago, in July 2004 they kindly offered me the old fruit field on their farm to start up a business. To be fair Robin’s exact words were, ‘come up and have a play to see if you can make a business of it’ and as they say, the rest is history! Well, not quite yet, as it is still early days for ‘Scott’s Garden Ltd’. As for coming to write for this magazine, well let’s just say I made my wishes to be actively involved with the OGA from the start very clear to my elders and betters, so here I am, hoping you will forgive my youth and inexperience!

Learning curves and circles
The aim of the business was to grow vegetables and soft fruit to Soil Association Organic Standards and I am proud to say that legal entitlement to use the word ‘Organic’ was granted on the 29th December 2006. It has not been easy, and will not be easy for a good many years to come, as coming from a completely non-farming background, this has been a massive learning curve and I know I will never cease to learn. But I can say that I am making progress and next year shall be so much better. What I have grown the past two years has gone down a treat, and as for the strawberries - let’s just say little went to waste other than what the badgers beat us to!

The growth of Scott’s Garden has been a circle within a circle in more ways than one. Long before the 4th of July 2004 I was attending Producer Services events and was inspired by my first meeting with the great Tolly. That meeting, along with meeting many other inspiring growers, convinced me that I was on the right road - should I ever get the chance to grow on a scale bigger than my two allotments. Well, that circle has come full circle as my OCIS visits were done by Phil Sumption and I have had a business ‘plan’ written by Tolly. But more importantly, we three are working with the other OGA committee members to provide every grower out there with a voice and a way to be kept in touch and up to date with the wider organic picture!

Coming to fruition
The original field, 2.79 acres, that I have ‘inherited’ is part of a 20 acre small holding with a history going back over 30 years, as I came to realise this year far better than ever before. The original owner was well known for his excellent PYO strawberries and raspberries and it turns out that he had his planting stock from Welsh Fruit Stocks just as I have - serendipity or what? So, just what do I attempt to grow organically in the middle of Derbyshire? I am growing a wide range of vegetables and will be attempting to put Tolly’s crop schedule in to action as best I can. In saying that, he did advise me not to grow potatoes, as I am planting/harvesting completely by hand but in an effort to be self-sufficient (as far as is possible), I am still planting over a 1/4 of a tonne! I have also expanded the top fruit enterprise as so many of my customers were asking about organic top fruit. I knew that the original 90 that I planted in 2006 would definitely not be enough! So now I have nearly 200 apples, pears, plums, damsons and quinces trained as either spindle bushes or pyramids with a central leader or as dwarf bushes. I have also set myself the task of training others as espaliers or multiple cordons. As is usual for me this is with an eye to the future in that I could run classes in pruning and training top fruit. I can but dream! The soft fruit consists of the usual berries with the red & white currants and gooseberries being trained as cordons as well as some bushes, along with the blackcurrants. Raspberries have been rather poor, so I have planted another 600 canes this year and will add more in the fall in the new field next door as, along with strawberries, I could sell each punnet three times over. The existing strawberry patch is caged against the badgers but they still manage to plunder the fruit and the new planting (6000 plants over a three year period) in the 1.3 acres next door will be fenced off with an electric fence. This will also be case for the squash and sweet corn this year as I am told these two crops are also a magnet for badgers! As far as getting the squash going, the mice are having a field day and I lost the first sowing this week, all 216 in 9cm pots and I am sure you can imagine the language that was used upon that revelation! So, it is back to square one and using the raised shelves in the greenhouse and not planting out more tomatoes just yet! The first 1000 sweet corn is through in there and the first sowing of Runner Beans and Courgettes are putting in an appearance at home along with 100 outdoor cucumbers! Protected cropping space is so tight that every inch is invaluable and I do at moments regret agreeing to do all my Grandfather’s bedding plants and hanging baskets. You have to duck just to walk into the three greenhouses at home. I also do the neighbour’s baskets, as well as the 12 for our house, so they do take up a lot of room! Hence the reason why I need at least a 1/8 of an acre of protected cropping space up at the farm in order to grow the necessary volume of tender crops. It will also enable me to grow year round salads as well as all those extra early special crops such as carrots and baby new potatoes that all attract a healthy early season financial premium. That story is one on its own and I have to wait for the eventual decision from the local planners, but let’s just say that it will no doubt have to be glass not plastic, and those of you reading this who grow under glass will know the type of financial investment I am looking at… and that is for a second Dutch Venlo greenhouse!

Keeping it local
I want to offer my local community a greengrocer on their doorstep who grows as near as damn-it 100% of all his own produce, and who will also deliver once a week. I don’t envisage a huge box scheme, but would like to get up to the 150 mark in the next two growing seasons, as well as my existing customer base. I will then be very happy, and hopefully Scott’s Garden will start seeing a return on all of the time and money invested in it so far. This is not just my work, it is also my passion and heart. It is people like us that will help change peoples beliefs and misconceptions over food and how it is produced. I firmly believe that local food is far better, and if we can form networks and alliances to grow together, then not only do we as growers benefit, but so do our customers within our communities. I know that I have a long way to go and will make many mistakes, but it is with the help and support of other more experienced growers out there who have helped me so much already, that my business will grow to become the vision that I saw the very first day Robin, my landlord, showed me the green grassy field!
Scott Sneddon