Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=550484

How herbs became a growth industry
A change in climate and culinary tastes has created an unlikely boom in 
British herb-growing, from coriander in Yorkshire and garlic in Scotland to 
lavender in Norfolk. Ian Herbert reports

12 August 2004

After decades of coaxing crops out of godforsaken terrain 800ft up in the 
South Pennines, the hard-bitten farmers of west Yorkshire believe they have 
little left to learn about agriculture. So it is anyone's guess how they 
responded a few months ago when a bright spark suggested they started growing 
coriander, a herb usually imported in vast quantities from sun-baked 
plantations in Spain.

The obstacles seemed formidable, The local farmers lacked the Spaniards' 
irrigation systems and long periods of warm weather. They were familiar with 
the long, 14-month cycles of cattle farming, not a delicate plant which is 
ruined if left unharvested for more than a month in summer.

But one crucial factor worked in favour of the culinary ingredient that some 
in these parts have come to know intimately as Coriandrum sativum. There was 
a huge demand for fresh quantities of it, from west Yorkshire's vast ethnic 
population.

Robert Barraclough, 53, who owns around 100 acres at Farnley Tyas, four miles 
south of Huddersfield, was losing heart with cattle when he decided to give 
coriander a go. The result is one of the most incongruous new sights in rural 
Yorkshire - pickers poring over fields thick with a plant whose leaves are 
destined for the tables of local Indian restaurants.

"It's not just about nipping out, buying a bunch of coriander seed and going 
down to the fields with it," said Mr Barraclough, who started with pilot 
batches of spinach, coriander and fenugreek. "The spinach grew like hell, the 
coriander wasn't too successful and the fenugreek failed altogether. But 
Punjabi families were growing coriander in their allotments and they came up 
and asked if I could grow it more extensively.

"I had to learn from some of the experienced growers. The restaurants wanted 
it just the right shape and size. I found out that I needed to use less 
acreage for it because some of it got far too much weed."

His persistence has brought respectable returns. One of Mr Barraclough's 
local Asian associates now arrives daily to takes the coriander to the 
wholesale market at Bradford, a city 20 miles away where around 15 per cent 
of the population is Pakistani and there are scores of Indian restaurants.

But Yorkshire is by no means the first place to embark on this horticultural 
voyage of discovery. Many farmers across Britain are now tapping into the 
growing demand for herbs as the nation's culinary tastes evolve.

Philip Papworth, a farmer from Arlesey in Bedfordshire, is another of the new 
generation of coriander farmers, whose own experiments with the herb began 
eight years ago, when he let 15 acres out to a businessman of Pakistani 
extraction who sold the crop at wholesale markets.

Now Mr Papworth cultivates 80 acres of the stuff and strong sales through 
London wholesale markets have made it his most profitable crop. "The growth 
in the Asian community has helped us build up the crops," said Mr Papworth, 
44, a fourth-generation farmer. "But so has Jamie Oliver and his brigade. 
He'll be doing his lamb so-and-so with coriander on TV - whereas my mum would 
have been doing it with mint sauce. She wouldn't have touched coriander with 
a bargepole but I'm making a living out of it."

Scotland, hardly a sun-kissed paradise carved out for herb cultivation, is 
enjoying similar commercial successes. Scotherb, based in the Carse of 
Gowrie, has upped production of coriander by 20 per cent this year and is 
currently producing 1,000 kilos a year on 14 acres of land. Asian families 
arrive in droves from Glasgow to pick their own. They want the herb 
fresh-grown but not necessarily to supermarket specifications.

"We have families of Asians who turn up from Glasgow with plastic bags and 
ask if they can go to the back and cut the old coriander," said the company's 
director Fiona Lamotte, whose father, another farmer-come-herbalist, set up 
the company. "Whether they freeze it or puree it I'm not sure, but it's a 
good way of making use of it all."

As well as "massive" coriander markets in Leeds and Bradford, Scotherb is 
producing increasing quantities of lemon thyme, a versatile herb which can be 
used to flavour chicken and salads. Ms Lamotte agrees that the new demand is 
fuelled as much by culinary sophistication promoted by TV chefs as by the new 
ethnic markets. And her ability to capitalise on it has also been helped by 
climate change. "We've been growing herbs for 14 years but the warmer weather 
most definitely helps. It makes this form of horticulture a real possibility 
- Britain is hardly well-known for it." Scotherb has found the perfect answer 
to year-round herbs by establishing a company called Ensaladas de Canarias in 
Tenerife.

Elsewhere in Scotland, a booming garlic industry also attests to the 
new-found taste for British-grown herbs. At The Really Garlicky Company, 
based at the foot of the Cawdor Hills, in the Highlands, Cordon Bleu cook 
Gilli Allingham and her husband Glen revel in the sheer smell of the 
"fragrant pearl", as they call their product. The company slogan is "It's 
chic to reek".

Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) a herb that can be so sensitive to the cold 
that one hard frost can wipe out a crop. But it is springing up at the 
National Herb Centre in Oxfordshire; hardly the mildest terrain in Britain. 
The flat lands of East Anglia are accommodating crops of basil, and newly 
planted lavender fields are bringing one of the most famous scents and sights 
of Provence to rural Kent.

Kent's shift into herbs has been driven in equal measure by a dramatic 
decline in demand for hops used in beer-making and the booming market in 
essential oils. While hop-growing has fallen from its peak of 72,000 acres in 
1870 across 53 counties, to 3,200 acres in just six counties, 
lavender-growing for essential oils has increased to cover more than 300 
acres of the South East's free-draining chalk soils. Three farms in the 
Darent Valley of Kent account for some 100 acres, complete with an on-site 
distillery to extract the valuable oil as soon as the flowers are harvested.

"We've got flinty soil which is chalk-based so when we get the winter and 
summer rains, the water quickly soaks away from the roots," said William 
Alexander, who has a 1,000-acre mixed operation and now grows some 90 acres 
of herbs for essential oils, 50 of which are lavender fields.

All this herbal activity is returning Britain to some well-worn horticultural 
traditions. Herbs including coriander, tarragon and Ladies' Mantle 
(Alchemilla vulgaris) were cultivated by medieval monks who perfected the art 
of retaining soil moisture by preventing the wind from drying the ground. The 
monks considered the seeds to be the important part of coriander and used 
them to flavour food and to deter fevers. The Romans also cultivated herbs in 
new-fangled raised beds, built up with wickerwork or woven osiers, which 
helped drainage and made harvesting easier.

The decline in the cultivation of many of these crops can be dated to the 
Second World War, when herbs were considered of secondary importance to 
staple crops such as wheat and corn. For no apparent reason, they were never 
re-established when the war ended.

No sooner have they re-emerged, however, than disease is beginning to 
threaten them. The substantial coriander yield expected by the National Herb 
Centre has been hit this year by the emergence of the disease oedema, which 
results in unsightly spots on the leaf. Horticulturalists have yet to 
establish conclusively what cause it, though this summer's high humidity may 
have been a factor.

In the meantime, the North of England, which has escaped such problems, is 
viewing its coriander experiment as a new way of connecting farmers with 
consumers. The Ethnic Food Action Group (EFAG), which is working with farmers 
across Yorkshire and the Humber, maintains that the ethnic food industry is 
the fasting growing food sector in Britain and already provides £1.07bn in 
sales.

"The cheapest way of getting coriander in bulk is to get container loads of 
the stuff shipped in from Spain," says EFAG's Stephen Noblett. "But that is 
not what the Indian restaurants want. The flavour of the coriander must be 
just right and that means it must delivered straight froom the field."

Tony Milroy, director of the Arid Lands and Sustainable Communities Trust 
which is trying to help regenerate a historic but ailing food economy in West 
Yorkshire, said his organisation has established that a potential market of 
12 million people existed within an hour of the region's M62 motorway - yet 
3,000 farmers were struggling to shift their produce.

"We need brave farmers to have a go at growing these alternative crops - and 
that's exactly what people like Robert Barraclough are doing."
A sprig of bay, a whiff of mint and a garden full of flavours

Thyme and marjoram

For a sunny spot, a good first choice is Thymus vulgaris or the pot marjoram, 
Origanum onites. Both are perennial herbs that thrive in heat and moderate 
neglect. Plant them in soil-based compost with good drainage, water them 
regularly but not too much and allow the soil to dry out between waterings, 
which for most of us is something that comes naturally. You will be able to 
pick fresh herbs for most of the year.

Bay

Bay, or Laurus nobilis, seems to match its rate of growth to the available 
root space, growing slowly in a small pot, and vigorously in open ground. The 
soil in a pot will need refreshing every couple of years, and after a while 
the plant may begin to pine for more space. Its dark-green, finely shaped 
leaves and small white flowers are attractive; fresh bay enlivens all sorts 
of dishes.

Basil

Ocimum basilicum is a classic herb for a windowsill. The smaller-leafed 
varieties, such as the bush basil Ocimum basilicum var. minimum, are 
particularly easy to grow and make attractive and compact bushes with soft 
green leaves.

Tarragon

Artemisia dracunculus is a wonderful culinary herb but hard to grow in an 
open bed where the water that other plants require can depress it to the 
point of death. It can thrive, however, in a pot placed in direct sun and 
given water in moderation. Tarragon dies back in winter and is not entirely 
hardy.

Lemon grass

Another herb that will love a sunny windowsill but needs protection in winter 
is lemon grass Cymbopogon cytratus. Pot it into good, rich soil, and be 
careful not to overwater. If possible, shelter your tarragon and lemon grass 
somewhere cool and dry over winter.

Mint

In a shady spot, small containers are ideal for mint, and there are lots of 
interesting and useful varieties. Mints suit containers: it means they can't 
bully other plants, and you can place the pots so that you brush past them 
and fill the air with scent.

Garlic

In winter plant two or three cloves in medium-sized pots larger than 15cm 
(6in) in fairly rich compost, water them in and leave them to overwinter, 
making sure the soil doesn't dry out. In spring green shoots will emerge. By 
midsummer the shoots will start to wither, a sign that the plants have 
reached the end of their growth cycle. At this point, retrieve a small bulb 
of garlic at the end of each shoot. It is sharper than the normal semi-dried 
garlic.

>From the book "Urban Eden" by Adam and James Caplin, published by Kyle 
>Cathie Ltd, priced £12.99


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