The Potager

With our potager, Gillyflower Farm is on a mission to diversify the local food economy, trialling and distributing vegetables and varieties of vegetables otherwise generally unavailable at supermarkets. Fighting back against the demand for uniformly shaped, synchronously harvested near-on identical crops, the potager produces crops with character, sometimes a little wonky, but always with a focus on quality, flavour, and ripeness. Commonly, that means growing older varieties of well-known crops, or indeed growing crops unaffected by modern breeding programmes.

With our potager, we want to bring these varities back to our fields and kitchens - inspiring a cusinine packed with crops of all shapes and sizes, as well nutrition and flavour.

What is a potager garden?

The potager at Gillyflower takes its inspiration from its namesake inVersailles, the Potager du roi. Originally constructed by Jean Baptiste de La Quintinie, the Potager du roi provided fresh fruits and vegetables for King Louis (The Sun King) XIV’s table whilst allowing the king himself to keep a close eye on proceedings. Covering 25 acres, the Potager du roi was split into compartments divided by trained fruit trees, this is perhaps where the similarities with the Gillyflower Potager are most acute. Our potager covers 1 acre, is split into 9 segments and has an assortment of trained apples and currants dividing each plot, a la Quintinie. Our potager differs significantly in that our produce is destined for the good folk of Cornwall, not the kings table!

What are we growing?

Ultimately, the potager is a perfect blend of the old and the new. The older varieties proving time and again that they can hold their own against modern breeding techniques, and the new contemporary approach to soil health helping us ensure the enterprise is sustainable and fit for the 21st century.