Fruit and vegetables at The Sanctuary

We grow as many kinds of seasonal fruit and vegetable as we can. The ground here is very chalky, so out-of-doors we get the best results with plants that tolerate or prefer an alkaline soil. That mean raspberries, blackcurrents, blackberries, tomatoes, runner beans, spring onions, and potatoes.

In our greenhouse we use growbags and get better results with peppers, corgettes, cucumbers, and lots more tomatoes!

In 2006, the raspberries, blackberries and damsons have given us a  large amount of fruit, nearly 10Kg from one damson tree alone! There will be plenty of home-made jams on the menu from now on. 

It's also been an exceptional year for Crane Flies (Daddy Longlegs) which we haven't minded. Unfortunately, it's also been an exceptional year for Cabbage White butterflies. While we were on holiday, a huge number of caterpillars had hatched. Cabbage and brocolli that had looked perfectly healthy two weeks earlier had turned into something that looked like it had been used for shotgun target practice! So growing fruit and veg free of pesticides has it's pros and cons.

We're happy with our chickens being natural pest controllers, but caterpillars don't seem to be on their menu.

In the new greenhouse

How to contact us