Greenshoots
We set up our first horticultural therapy unit over twenty years ago, and moved to our present location at Rotherfield Peppard two years later.
This move gave us a five acre site and the space to have a 60 foot glasshouse and two polytunnels. It also allowed us to formalise our training centre with dedicated classrooms and additional meeting space.
At Greenshoots we provide a variety of work realistic nursery tasks, underpinned by classroom teaching, for example,
Identification of groups of plants
- Propagation & cultivation
- Ground preparation & crop rotation
- Pest disease control & irrigation
- Container, vegetable and fruit crops
- Cultivation of the herb garden & bedding plants.
Students may work independently, but often they choose to work in small teams to achieve the planting, growing and harvesting tasks.
We specialise in growing vegetable, salad, soft and orchard fruit crops, which we pick and sell throughout the seasons.
Where possible, these crops are grown without added chemicals, for example, pesticides, fertilisers, fungicides, etc., so though we don’t have the Soil Association’s Organic Standard mark, our produce is nearly all chemical free.
During the spring and summer months we sell bedding plants for troughs and tubs, and a range of hanging baskets. Many of these plants are grown from seed, though we do grow-on some from small plug plants.
We work with customers, both commercial and private, to design bespoke hanging baskets and trough planting schemes for summer and winter displays, or for a special event, for example, a wedding or celebratory occasion. These will often need to be planned and ordered well ahead of the event.
We have recently launched a plant vacation service, whereby customers return their hanging baskets and troughs to us as they go on holiday; we care and water the plants, or refill with new seasonal planting.
A few years ago we introduced chickens to the site. They live in our orchard and seem very happy there. The students are involved in cleaning & looking after them and also collect eggs from the chickens daily , which we sell to the public.