Some photos

Stair Organic Growers - Photographs

Young cucumber plants in the propagating polytunnel. These fast growing plants are only three to four weeks old and are ready for planting out. They will begin cropping two to four weeks later.

Our outdoor carrots are seeded by direct drilling into the soil. We use a Stanhay Robin seed drill with three seeding lines. We now grow our carrots on ridges to improve the drainage. Unfortunately it means we can only grow two rows of carrots per tractor run.

Ploughing the ground in our second season with our old Ferguson TE20, 'The Fergie'. The tractor was produced in 1953 and began its life on the Dumfries estates. It then moved onto a mushroom farmer in Thornhill who used it to move the growing compost around. It is now with us and after a few very hard years it is in semi retirement awaiting some tlc!

The two main problems with the Fergie were a non standard drive shaft for equipment and there was only a single clutch. This meant that to start the rotavator revolving, for example, the tractor also had to be started moving. Newer tractors have two clutchs allowing the drive shaft to be turning without the tractor moving. Here we are rotavating using a borrowed Ferguson 35.

Our latest tractor, a Valmet 865. Four wheel drive brings a number of benefits. Compaction of the soil is much reduced helping soil life and drainage. We can work on the soil a couple of days earlier after rain than with two wheel drive. Driver comfort is greatly increased particularly with regard to back injuries. This tractor is smaller than most modern tractors and so we are able to reuse implements such as the seed drill which would normally be too small.

Snow lying between two polytunnels. A few years ago now, we have not had any lying snow for two years in a row. The winter of 06/07 was exceptional in that we had virtually no frost either.

A view of our propogating tunnel. We produce all our own transplants. Transplants are raised in module or blocks in a polytunnel before being planted out in their final positions. We grow our own plants as we can be sure of their Organic integrity and they will establish better when planted out being raised in the same location. We used certified Organic composts and Organic seed.

The Orchard. This is where it all began. We wanted to produce Organic Ayrshire cider! So we planted the orchard in the first winter with a selection of Organic apple trees from Butterworths Organic Nursery. Once that was done we thought to ourselves "What do we do until they start producing apples? We had better grow some vegetables!" and the rest is history!

French beans, tomatoes and cucumbers growing together in a polytunnel. We grom the cucumbers and tomatoes up suspended strings. Cucumbers will easily grow twelve feet of stem even in a Scottish season! The straw act as a mulch which retains soil moisture, keeps the soil cool and suppresses weed growth. It also acts to reflect light up into the plants. Finally some of the straw is incorporated into the soil and improves its structure.

Organic George Cave apples just about ready to pick. They are an excellent eating apple with a complex flavour far superior to most standard supermarket apples.

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