Take a look at the latest Scotherbs news stories and see which events we will be attending soon.

February 2010

There is a real hum of activity at Waterybutts Farm. Our Farm Manager Rob and his dedicated team of four are busy making all the necessary preparations for a busy – and fingers crossed – bountiful home grown season.

We will be growing on around 250 acres in the ‘land of milk & honey’ this year. As well as the usual field crops such as the parsleys, coriander, chervil and dill, we are increasing our ‘protected’ crops by over 200%. This means that we can look forward to larger harvests of home grown mint, tarragon, thyme, rocket and other salad leaves.

As always Mr Wilson will be busy preparing some exotic and intriguing treats for your customers in our trial tunnels. Along with the usual seasonal selections such as lemon balm, garlic chives, lavenders and salad burnet we would like to hear what you and your customers would like us to grow so please, do ask them and let us know in plenty time so we can make it happen for them.

Edible flowers should start to peep out around April and we will be supplying nasturtiums, pansy, viola, marigold, courgette and chive varieties.

We expect home grown product to become available around April time when we should start to see Mint and Chives ready for harvesting followed by Sorrel in May and the whole range coming through in June, tapering off in September/October time. We are however continually looking at methods of extending our home grown season which is perhaps the biggest challenge we face as a business. Some of you will be aware that our MD, Fiona, was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship last year. Fiona spent two months travelling the globe, visiting herb farms in a variety of climates and gaining an understanding of the various methods employed by these farms to improve the quality and yield of their crops in the hope that we can utilise some of these ideas for our own operation. Aside from Fiona’s trip, we are dedicating a great deal of time and resources to making the distant dream of 365 day home grown production a reality and we will keep you posted as to how this develops.

January 2010

Please remember, as with most of us, Basil does not enjoy this cold Scottish climate!

Where other herbs can be safely kept in a chill, basil should be kept at a temperature of around 8 - 10oC where ever possible to maximise shelf life and maintain optimum quality.

Being from the Mediterranean region, basil is much more used to sunshine and warmth so please handle it carefully and keep it wrapped up to avoid premature breakdown.

August 10th 2009

The Mail on Sunday recently reported some fabulous salad leaf facts. The article entitled ‘Hail Caesar Salad’, published on 19th July highlighted not only the growing trend for various types of salad leaf but the potent nutritional and health benefits for those who love a bit of crunch in their munch.

The results of their research was as follows;

Watercress

Nutrition score: 4 out of 5

Along with spinach, water cress has the highest amounts of vitamins C and A of all leaves and contains-high levels of folate, which is needed for a healthy nervous system and cell growth. A cereal bowl of watercress will give you half your Vitamin C for the day.

It is also high in a group of phytochemicals called glucosimolates, which, when eaten, break down into compounds with strong anti-cancer properties. In 2007, University of Ulster scientists found that eating 3oz of watercress a day could inhibit the growth of cancer cells and even kill them, with smokers benefiting most.

Baby spinach

Nutrition score: 4 out of 5

Spinach contains the highest levels of beta carotene of all the green salad leaves. It's also an excellent source of folate, Vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin.

Dressing spinach and all salad leaves with a bit of oil helps the body absorb the phytochemicals. One cup of fresh spinach leaves gives double the daily requirement of Vitamin K, an essential nutrient needed for blood coagulation.

Rocket

Nutrition score: 3 out of 5

Like watercress, rocket contains a group of compounds known as glucosinolates. It's these compounds that create the pungent flavours. Britain's Institute of Food Research is currently investigating how these compounds could protect the body against cardiovascular disease and cancer. A large portion contains almost as much fibre as a glass of orange juice, so will significantly add to your daily quota.

To read the article in full CLICK HERE

July 23rd 2009

The all new website from the UK's expert herb growers and suppliers. Discover the variety and versatility of fresh herbs and increase your knowledge with useful tips about how and when to use herbs in all aspects of your life at

www.fresh-herbs.co.uk

June 15th 2009

As the home grown season progresses, we’re seeing mixed results on the farm - no matter how much we plan we can not control the erratic Scottish weather! We have now sown most of our available area with crops. All the early season crop covers have been removed and we are busy trying to plant as much as we can.

Coriander is growing particularly well. We are currently harvesting around 4000 bunches of Coriander a week from the fields and will be aiming to supply an additional 400kg of loose coriander each day this week. However, our home grown Dill and Chervil have had a few problems and we may be tight on these products for the next 2 weeks.

We’ve harvested some excellent quality Parsley over the last week both in bunches and loose cut. Up and coming parsley crops look well and apart from a few weed issues we are confident of having a steady Scottish supply for the next few weeks.

Spinach, which we previously grew in tunnels, is thriving outside. We will have harvested 1 tonne this week which is a huge advance against an average of 150kg per week last year!

We are optimising weed control in the poly-tunnels where Chard and Mizuna are now in full flow, by sterilising the soil – a process which cleans up the soil from the previous season’s crop. Also in the tunnels, our rocket production is going well with the 3rd crop of the season well underway. Mint tunnels have been more erratic, but have given us a good crop so far.

We have been producing Red Basil and Sorrel under glass at Waterybutts using a hydroponic system which has been largely successful, given the small area planted.

Going further into the home grown season, we have an ambitious program to add an additional 21 tunnels to allow us a longer season of home grown production.

Our demonstration tunnel has been very productive with a wide range of speciality products produced every week. Our wholesale customers appear to be enjoying the different things we can offer and orders for these are growing week on week. The ‘next big thing’ appears to be Courgette Flowers – a crop we will certainly have to look at increasing in 2010!

Forthcoming Events

VISIT SCOTHERBS AT . . . .

25 - 28 June 2009, Ingliston Edinburgh, Royal Highland Show

Scotherbs will be at the Royal Highland Show in Ingliston which runs from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th June 2009. As part of the Tesco supported ‘farmer’s market’ area, we will be specifically sampling our own brand summer range of chervil, purple basil and sorrel and also coriander, flat parsley and curly parsley which we are selling bunched in Tesco at the moment.

We will also be providing herbs to the top chefs in the demonstration kitchen over the course of the show and on Saturday/Sunday will be planting a herb with children as part of our continuing primary school herb project in partnership with Tesco.

If you are at the show, do come and say hello, we will be delighted to see you!