Iceberg Lettuce

Iceberg lettuce is well suited to our location, having a mild climate and our soil type as it is a nutrient rich peat soil.

Having grown Iceberg lettuce since the early 1980's we have tried many varieties and different production methods. Currently we grow three main varieties. The three varieties we use are chosen to meet the changing requirements of our customers and the changing growing conditions over the lettuce season. If we were to use just one variety all year the lettuce would become too large and fluffy and not be the smaller more compact lettuce we require.

Iceberg lettuce still remains the main lettuce type chosen by consumers despite the ever increasing range of different types of lettuce available. We therefore continue to strive for improved growing and harvesting techniques, although the use of our own built self propelled harvesting rigs to field pack the lettuce is the most effective harvesting method used to date.

Celery

We have been growing celery on Tarleton Moss since 1965. As a crop it is well suited to our peaty soils and mild climate, as celery needs a very high quantity of water to enable it to grow.

Over the years the variety choices have changed, generally there is now very little self blanching (white) celery grown commercially due to customer demand for the better taste and appearance of green celery. We grow all green celery, primarily three different varieties to suit the changing weather conditions over the planting and harvesting periods and the customer specifications. We continue to trial new varieties in order to view their suitability for us.

The celery we grow is for wholehead and celery hearts. The celery is specifically grown for the production of celery hearts by planting at closer spacing than we plant for wholehead production.

Our outdoor harvesting season is from the end of May through to mid November. Celery is harvested using self propelled harvesting rigs, which we design and build in our own workshop. The celery is cut and packed in the field and taken to the yard for dispatching to our customers.

Chinese Leaves

Used for both salads and cooking, mainly in stir fries Chinese Leaves have been increasing in popularity over the years. We began growing Chinese Leaves (or Chinese cabbage as they are sometimes referred to) in the early 1980's as a response to customer requests.

As a crop Chinese Leaves are difficult to grow as they are susceptible to a wide range of pests and diseases and without sufficient water are likely to suffer from heart rot and a variety of nutrient deficiencies. With our peaty soils which have significant water reserves we are able to grow this crop more successfully.

We tend to use one main variety which has a proven track record for producing quality cabbage matching our customers' requirements. We do however continue to work with seed companies in carrying out trials of new and existing Chinese Leaf varieties.

As with our other crops Chinese Leaves are harvested with purpose built self propelled harvesting rigs and are field packed before being taken to the yard for dispatch for customers. The harvesting period for Chinese Leaves is the end of May to mid November.

Little Gem

We started growing the Little Gem type of lettuce in 1999, so as a crop it is relatively new to us but it has rapidly increased in terms of the volume grown as it becomes ever popular with the customers, due to its sweet taste and crunch texture.

The Little Gem lettuce grows well on our peaty soils making good use of the available nutrients and water.

As a relatively new crop we continue to trial new and existing varieties but we have as yet to find another variety to beat the one we currently use for its reliability and production of uniformly sized heads.

The Little Gem are usually put into packs of two and are harvested and packed in the field using purpose built self propelled harvesting rigs and then taken to the yard by tractor and trailer ready to be dispatched to the customer.

Future developments with the Little Gem crop is the introduction of the Red Gem, which has red leaves but still remains sweet tasting, this is being introduced by a number of our customers in a mixed pack of red and green Little Gem lettuce.