From seed to plate in two weeks

Deep beneath Clapham High Street is a vegetable farm. It is a massive tunnel like a hugely expanded version of the old cotton-wool-and-water set-up on your windowsill sprouting water cress.

As part of the Capel Manor gardening course, we visited Underground Growing in South London. It grows micro salads in tunnels that were built as air-raid shelters during the Second World War.

The urban farmers use four-storey trolleys that hold trays and wool squares made from carpet off-cuts. Water delivers nutrients to the plants and LED lights the sunshine.

Every day, seeds are sown onto the wool in the trays. They germinate in darkness for the next three days. Then they get moved into the part of the tunnel that receives LED lighting during the night, when electricity is cheaper, and which bathes everything in an exotic pink tint.

Micro salads  include peashoots, mustards, coriander, garlic chives, fennel and many more. London’s restaurant customers love the freshness and taste. So do consumers via M&S, Ocado and others.

The venture has generated a lot of interest as one of the first in the UK of what is called ‘vertical farming’ that uses otherwise wasted space to grow food close to the consumer.

What surprised us most was the sheer speed of the process in these controlled conditions. Typically, it takes no more than two weeks from seed to table.

Not something that you can match on an allotment.

.

1 Comment on "From seed to plate in two weeks"

  1. Amazing! I used to live in Clapham and there were rumours of an underground world but noone knew where it was!

Comments are closed.