Wild Garden
Whether it’s peppery rocket, hot purple mustard or the mildest of butterhead lettuce, salad can be the making of the simplest plate of food. Tia Cudsen of Wild Gardens, our local vegetable gardeners, who produce, amongst other seasonal veg, inspiring salad mixes of the freshest leaves and herbs, agrees wholeheartedly.
Growing up on a farm helping her mum in the veg patch, she dreamt of gardening as a living. “My partner Nick and I worked in a few vegetable farms after college and ended up for a while with a herb nursery outside Cork.” Home called them back to the UK, and after a stint transforming the productive gardens at Hadspen House, they came to settle in their own plot in Galhampton, just a few miles from us.
It’s a micro garden with a very specific layout planted to JM Fortier’s system ‘The Market Garden’ which has seen an explosion in small productive gardens across North America. “Throughout lockdown, we did gate sales of salad and veg for the local villages which have been a lovely way of connecting with locals.”
Her tips for keeping salad fresh in the fridge? “Rinse it in very cold water and spin or dry carefully, then bag it up. We’ve done that for you with our bags which will keep for up to a week – you may find the odd bit of compost but then, a little bit of dirt is good for you, isn’t it?” she says, smiling.
