We aim to make fresh produce accessible to people in our local community.

Wholesome Fields

Our market Garden is designed around producing vegetables as sustainably as possible for the local community here in southwest Scotland. We are based at Rainton farm but are separated from the already organically diverse farm which makes a range of cheeses from their pioneering cow with calf dairy.  It is with thanks to David and Wilma Finlay for letting us get our market garden started here.  We have always preferred the vegetables grown from our gardens, they just taste altogether fresher and fuller and so we are excited to now be able to share our passion for fresh vegetables with the local community.

We want to take a very simple approach in our garden and are not prepared to use any insecticides, herbicides or manufactured chemical fertilisers on our crops. Just because something is labelled safe to use in organic cultivation does not mean we want it on our food. We want to invest in the soil and not have to worry about anything other than physical barriers for certain insects.

No-dig principles

No-dig is about avoiding soil disturbance to allow the natural processes within the soil to work without interference. We achieve this by using permanent beds and practice farming by hand; replacing the tractor with hand tools. All planting, cultivation, and harvesting is done by hand, yes everything will be done by hand including the watering! We will be adding to the soil every year with a beneficial compost mulch created right here on the farm. This maintains soil structure and the life it supports, and we believe that farming this way is easier and produce vegetables of a higher quality.

Intensive techniques

Growing all year round is going to be a challenge but with careful planning and continuous succession planting we aim to grow for at least ten months of the year.  With the use of row covers and wind breaks this should be achievable. We practice intensive planting and growing techniques. We achieve this by maintaining fertile soil and do not leave beds fallow. Our beds are constantly full throughout the season from early March through late December, when one vegetable has finished cropping it is replaced immediately with the next. Similarly, our polytunnels produce vegetables year-round. We believe that farming this way creates healthy vegetables that are resistant to diseases and pests.

Carole & George

Having moved to Scotland in 2021 to gain experience in the cow with calf system, George and Carole did have future plans to start their own small dairy and mixed farm on a rented unit elsewhere in the UK, but loving this area made it hard to leave.  So, when we were approached with the opportunity of starting a market garden here at Rainton we knew that our future was here.

Carole, having many years’ experience in managing a children’s nursery, is very organised and writes lists for almost everything, she is taking the lead in the running of Wholesome Fields while George will be working on the farm but will be lending a hand in the busy times. Having both grown their own produce before they are keen to make it happen here for the local community.