Eva's Market Gardens

We have been growing vegetables organically at Low Luckens Farm near Hethersgill since 2003 and our aim now is to expand on the knowledge we have gained and to widen the range of locally grown organic produce available in Cumbria. To this end we are developing a new organic herb garden at Milton near Brampton and will be launching new fruit and vegetable production in 2009 at Gosling Sike Farm, Houghton near Carlisle.

To maintain year-round variety our boxes also contain an interesting assortment of produce supplied by other organic growers including potatoes from Cumbria, summer produce from Lancashire and autumn and winter produce from Scotland. All the produce we supply is certified by the Soil Association as organically grown and our licence numbers are G9021 and P9022.

Complete with polytunnels and outdoor beds, Eva's organic market garden at Low Luckens grows a wide range of fresh vegetables and salad crops. All our produce is grown without pesticides or artificial fertilisers. The spread of pests and diseases is minimised by careful attention to crop rotation and use of techniques found only in small scale organic horticulture. For example weed control involves hours of hoeing and hand weeding.

Healthy plants are more likely to fight off pests and diseases, and are better able to compete with weeds, so we aim to optimise crop health by providing plants with fertile well structured soil. This is a long term project and a particular challenge at Low Luckens where the native soil is less than a spade’s depth of poorly drained loam over heavy clay. As well as home made compost and organic farmyard manure the raised beds benefit from regular crops of green manure such as chicory, buckwheat, Phacelia, winter rye, vetch and trefoil. These are grown simply to cut down and dig into the soil, thereby increasing organic matter and nutrient levels. For example, vetch and trefoil fix nitrogen while buckwheat is particularly useful for raising phosphate levels. Chicory has long penetrating roots that help to break up the clay layer and improve soil structure and drainage.

Other methods we use to nourish the soil include making conventional compost from waste plant material as well as worm compost from horse droppings. While well rotted horse manure is valuable in its own right, the special treatment it gets in our purpose built wormery creates even richer plant food and the polytunnel crops in particular seem to thrive on it.

Low Luckens Farm is the home of the Low Luckens Organic Resource Centre, which aims to promote sustainable farming, local healthy food and countryside conservation. The Centre runs a programme of educational visits for children of all ages who as part of their experience of farming, learn about growing organic vegetables in Eva’s Organics’ polytunnels and on a small outdoor veg patch that has become the Schools Garden. Learn more about the work of Low Luckens Organic Resource Centre.