Market Gardening in Mickleton

Loss of an old way of life

Market gardening was an important industry in Mickleton, surrounded by the fertile soils of the Vale of Evesham. One of Mickleton’s older residents, John Smith remembers working for Webb’s, one of the main employers in the area.

Webb’s market gardening holding was started in 1896 in Mickleton by Joseph Webb and continued into the 1980 by his great grandson J Robbins. Mickleton had good ground for growing tomatoes.

Market Gardening in Mickleton

Market Gardening in Mickleton

Fifty acres of ground were cultivated with 12 acres used for greenhouses. However, by the time of the BBC’s Domesday Project in 1986, 6 acres of greenhouses were disused. They stopped growing sprouts in 1976 because of a lack of labour. In 1986 ten people were employed full-time, 6 people part-time and up to ten people in casual labour. The crops were sent to supermarkets all over the country. Plant pests and diseases were controlled by spraying both inside the greenhouses and out in the open. Nitrogen, potash and phosphates were the fertilisers which were used. All the workers were employed at the same level.

The deepening crisis in the market garden sector pushed the labourers to find new jobs in Birmingham and Coventry. Most of the former orchards turned into new developments, which in turn attracted retirees and commuters.

Doreen Ellis recalls her father’s market gardening business.

My father was one of the market gardeners before they all disappeared. My father used to own Greyrick House which was where I was brought up from an early age and he ran the business from there. Mainly tomatoes, cauliflowers, broad beans and peas. He used to employ a few local women to help, my Mother was one and there was a family of sisters, the Norton sisters, and they used to help out. In the greenhouse, potting up the cauliflower seedlings, picking the tomatoes, pea picking or anything else that they could manage to do.

Where Cotswold Edge is now, were my Father’s greenhouses and agricultural land and then further down, along the Broad Marston Road, we had more land down there. I can’t remember who it belongs to now. We had a few fruit trees, plums and apples but mainly vegetables.

My Father used to go out in the winter, when it was freezing and pick the sprouts by hand. It was a hard life. It was a hard life. But rewarding.

I used to help my Dad, pea picking mostly because he used to get paid so much per pot, as they called it. It was a net. I don’t know how much it weighed but you were paid so much for every net that you filled. That was really pocket money, because it was a busy time.

Picking sprouts is done by machine but not in those days. And also they used to rent some ground up at Ebrington. I remember they used to grow sprouts up there because the thing is, they always used to say “sprouts are better grown on the hill”.

(Anne: because they like cold, don’t they?)

Yes, you never eat sprouts until it had had a frost on in those days. I think it used to add to the flavour, they used to say but nowadays they’re so many different varieties  and they’re all treated differently now.

Hear Doreen Ellis and her recollections of market gardening.

 

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