Walled gardens in Victorian times and earlier enabled the supply of exotic fruits and novel vegetables despite the chilly Scottish weather. Now, walled garden owners in eastern Scotland are set to grow a new exotic crop - tea.
A group of 11 walled garden owners have formed the Scottish Artisan Tea Producers Network, and are planning to plant out their first tea bushes later this year.
Encouraged by Susie Walker-Munro’s launch of her home grown Kinnettles Gold tea last November the group are propagating 30,000 tea seedlings, suffient to cover seven acres.
Last year, with the help of Teacraft associate consultant Beverly-Claire Wainwright, Walker-Munro processed and sold her first ever batch of Scottish grown tea to Pekoe Tea of Edinburgh.
Specially selected cold-tolerant tea seed for propagation were imported from Nepal and volunteers have since filled the nursery pots and sown seeds.
The Scottish Artisan Tea Producers Network: Feasibility Study is supported by the Community Food Fund, which is financed by the Scottish government and has been created to promote local food and drink, in line with Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy.
Learn more: www.communityfoodfund.co.uk