Unicorn Land Project

In Autumn 2008 we became the proud owners of 21 acres of prime growing land in Glazebury, near Leigh, just under 14 miles by road from the shop. The land became fully organic in June 2010, and is certified by the Soil Association. In April 2010, a 10 year tenancy was signed with Moss Brook Growers, a co-operative veg growing business set up by two Unicorners – Stuart & Rob (often seen working in the Veg area). They now have the tall task of managing the site and supplying us with lovely vegetables! See below for the latest update on their progress.

Update from Moss Brook Growers, August 2011

We've had a great few months at Moss Brook, getting to grips with our first year of commercial-scale growing. Weather-wise we think we've had it pretty good, apart from the dry March & April, and we're pretty happy with how our crops are looking.

Right now, we're in the thick of the season, where every job in the growing cycle needs doing in abundance - sowing seeds, weeding, harvesting, and turning in old crop residues to prepare for the next crop in our rotation.

Some of our crop trials this year have been surprisingly successful - spinach and radish in particular, and we'll be continuing to sow successional beds of these until the end of August. The speed at which these two crops emerge from seed has made a big difference to the cost of weeding, though, for both, the most labour-intensive part of the process is harvesting.

Our main crops are now ready too - leeks, celery and cabbage - so hopefully you'll see plenty more of these on Unicorn's shelves in the next few weeks & months. In fact all the crops are coming thick & fast at the moment, and one of our challenges is trying to fit a day's delivery into our cars... (If you know anyone selling a reliable van, let us know!)

Overall, the fields are looking wonderfully productive. It's hard to imagine the rough hay meadows that Unicorn bought three years ago. Thanks to loads of voluntary help, the Lottery giving us some funding, guidance from other growers, and long days all round, we're at a stage where we're hoping to produce 6 tonnes of leeks, 5,000 cabbages, 3,000 bunches of celery, and half a tonne of spinach. And we're only using 7 out of the 21 acres, so that's just the start...

We have two open days coming up in September - Saturday 10th and Saturday 24th, 9.00am till 2.00pm on both days (including a lunch made with our own-grown veg). If you want to come and see the land and how it's changed over the last year, please ask a member of staff at Unicorn to get yourself booked on. Like last year, the open days are free, but places are limited.