Shirley’s Kitchen Garden
Shirley’s Kitchen Garden grows and sells fresh, local, seasonal produce grown at home on the family farm near Biggar, Lanarkshire.
The kitchen garden started during the pandemic in 2020 when Shirley Graham noticed the importance of locally-sourced food in her community. So she took a career break to establish a new business from the farm selling seasonal vegetables to the local market.
Fresh vegetables full of nutrition.
Following a no-dig style of gardening which mean the land does not have to be cultivated with machinery or manual labour, Shirley grows all her vegetables in compost beds at her farm in Lanarkshire. All vegetables are sown into seed trays, giving them the best possible start as they are small plugs when planted directly into the compost and able to cope with any pests. The idea is to keep the ground covered with vegetables throughout the growing season with much of the garden able to provide two different harvests in a season.
Shirley can confidently say to her customers that her vegetables are nutritious and free of any chemicals. No chemicals or fertilisers are added to the vegetables throughout their growing period as the compost is enough to give the vegetables the nutrition they need.
Buy fresh vegetables from Lanarkshire.
Shirley has been able to supply a couple of local restaurants alongside her customers who collect their weekly supplies at the garden. The popularity of her veg boxes is also growing where she offers a wide variety of produce depending on seasonality. The vegetables are harvested and are mostly with customers on the same day, often vegetables are picked in front of them so it does not get any fresher than that!
Her extensive range over the year has included: spinach, kale, green beans, sugar snap peas, onions, green sprouting broccoli, broad beans, cabbage, mange tout, , beetroot, cauliflower, courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, garden peas, potatoes, carrots, edible flowers and fresh herbs.
And there are lots still to come with squashes, swedes, parsnip, brussel sprouts, leeks, winter salads and celeriac still to be harvested.
Shirley’s Kitchen Garden promotes the vegetables that are available on Facebook each week. You can pick up vegetables from the garden on Tuesday and Friday afternoons (times may change through the season). Orders are taken through Facebook.