Starting Your Veg Patch

In celebration of National Allotment Week (9th – 15th August), we’ve put together a vegetable calendar, with help from Zelah, one of the Yeo Valley Organic Garden gardeners, that can help you produce tasty, organic produce without the use of man-made chemicals and fertilisers.

2023’s National Allotment Week theme is Soil Health; ‘good soil health is widely accepted as way to improve yield when growing edibles but also contributes positively to biodiversity and the environment as the world faces more climate challenges’. Here at Yeo, we know that choosing to eat and grow organically is one of the best things we can do to address soil health and the changing climate. Zelah explains “when you garden organically, you start to realise that there isn’t just one great benefit; it’s like a chain reaction that has multiple benefits as the effects of your actions ripple out, whether it’s to wildlife, soil, the food chain, our health or even the planet!”

Zelah, our veg patch extraordinaire, shared her experience of growing produce “When I joined the Yeo Valley Gardening Team I hadn’t had much experience in veg growing on that scale, so I leapt into it by giving everything a go and experimenting as much as possible.”

She continues “At Yeo Valley’s Organic Garden, I am responsible for planning and looking after the formal veg garden. This productive area supplies veg for the staff canteen, cafe, cooking demos that we host in the garden, Tim and Sarah Mead (the big bosses who live here), and staff members. It is so satisfying to have something delicious to eat at the end of all your efforts.”

Don’t forget, at Yeo Valley it all starts with the soil. We think it’s good gardening practice to view the soil as the foundation of a productive and healthy plot. Whether you have a small city backyard or a farm with many acres, there are several things you can do to support your soil. Composting is something we’re a bit obsessed with at Yeo Valley. Our green waste is broken down and turned into the most fabulous, nutrient rich product, which we use as a mulch on our flower and veggie beds. This also helps to suppress weeds and we all know that any help there is very handy!

This year, we’ve been supporting closing the knowledge gap by bringing our ‘choose organic’ message to more people than ever before, working with Incredible Edible Bristol to offer bursaries to individuals that want to know more about using organic principles and how our gardening impacts the wider environment.

Celebrate your skills and achievements by sharing your allotment pics with us – we’d love to see them!

We hope that our calendar can provide a little insight into our gardening schedule to support growing organically. Trowels at the ready everyone! Click here to get our growing calendar.