Chris keen to grow business

A gardening business that is aimed at helping homeowners establish their own kitchen gardens, has been launched by a former Shropshire head teacher.

Chris Bell, former head of Oswestry Infants School, has begun Cloches Kitchen Gardens after taking early retirement.

His home-based business in Shrewsbury was born following 20 years of growing his own vegetables, fruits, salads and herbs for himself and his family.

He said: “The kitchen garden is now making a comeback as a result of renewed interest in growing your own and eating food which has good flavour and freshness. Much of our food is lacking these qualities after travelling thousands of miles to reach retail outlets.”

Chris said there was something special in going out to your garden, admiring the results of your own work and harvesting healthy produce that would be on the plate in an hour or so. Yet it can take years to make a success of a kitchen garden if you don’t know what you’re doing and then suffer failures.

Cloches Kitchen Gardens aims to help anyone interested in making a successful start in growing their own produce.

Chris said: “For those just starting out it can be a very frustrating and time consuming business that leads to frustration rather than satisfaction. All my customers are offered a free leaflet and free first visit so they can discuss with me what they want to eat and grow.

“Many homeowners have no idea of the potential of their gardens for food production. A wall or fence is ideal for providing shelter and a structure for many fruits including new varieties of peaches and apricots that can grown in our warming climate.”

Vegetables and salads are grown best in raised beds and Cloches Kitchen Gardens can provide and fit a range of attractive beds of different shapes and sizes that have built-in features for pest-control, irrigation and crop protection to extend the season, and salads and vegetables can be harvest in every season.

Chris can also advise on how to choose colourful varieties that will do well in a particular garden, how to water and care for your crops and prevent pests eating the results!

He can also do the groundwork necessary to establish a kitchen garden for customers - whether large or small - so that his client has a garden already set up to succeed.

Chris said: “We can provide plants and do pruning and any general management and maintenance that is required. I also provide a personal coaching service and this really helps my customers succeed and learn new skills quickly.”

Chris called his business Cloches Kitchen Gardens because a cloche is a glass bell traditionally used in gardening and Chris’s surname is Bell. Although the business has just been launched Chris has already attracted clients and is obviously enjoying his new field.

He said: “It’s become an increasing passion of mine. The impetus of it is that it is achievable even by somebody with limited spare time and a small garden.”

Chris believes that the knowledge of how to create and maintain a kitchen garden has become a lost skill.

He said: “Our grandparents’ generation learned how to do it from their parents, but now there’s a generation that is missing the knowledge, similar to cooking, but particularly in terms of gardens.”

Interested people are invited to call or email Chris on 01743 356515/0797 333 1945 info@clocheskitchengardens.co.uk

He said: “I will then come out and have a chat, see the garden and ask you to tell me what you like to eat and what your family likes and find out what is your budget.”

He also observes whether the garden has shade, which direction it is facing and whether it has a threat of pests. He then produces a basic plan and his customers can either do the work themselves or employ him to do it for him. The gardens can be totally organic or not organic at all. .

Chris said: “If I am employed to do the work it can take from a few days to a couple of weeks, it depends on the size of the garden. It needn’t be expensive. I don’t want it to be expensive or unachievable. This service is not just for those with a disposable income.”