ALTHOUGH Cultivate has officially stopped growing our own produce we’re still very much in tune with the growing process as a team. That's not only because we have a close relationship with our suppliers who keep us updated on what’s going in the ground and how their harvest is going, or because many of our customers have their own veg patches, but because our staff are all growing their own too, myself included.

Back in March my partner and I finally made the decision to turn the disused part of our garden into a small growing space. My previous experience of growing veg was limited having only grown tomatoes in pots on the windowsill of my east Oxford flat. So to have a small patch of earth at my disposal was quite daunting and in the end more work than I anticipated. Just digging over the earth and pulling out all the stingers, roots and weeds took two weekends. It certainly gave me a newfound respect for the hard work and effort that goes in to the produce we stock every week. For example I recently met one of our growers Matt at his 10 acre plot in North Aston and was blown away by the fact that just he and one other person were managing the entire plot using organic farming methods.

Now my own veg patch is thriving (let’s ignore the caterpillar-ridden brassicas) and me and the rest of the Cultivate team are regularly comparing what stage our veggies are at. Between us we’ll have more produce than we need to feed ourselves and we have a feeling we won’t be the only ones. This lead us to the idea of creating Cultivate Allotment partners. If you grow your own but have more than you know what to do with you can get in touch with us and we’ll arrange to collect it from you. We’ve already sold Oxford veg patch grown Rhubarb and we’re on the look out for more produce no matter how small or large the quantity. It’s a great way to help people reduce waste and it will be exciting to see the variety of produce we receive.