Howard Nurseries Ltd, Suffolk
“My name is Christine Howard, Managing Director of Howard Nurseries Ltd. We’re a specialist hardy herbaceous perennial nursery based in Suffolk, supplying the wholesale trade from landscape designers, other nurseries, local authorities to garden centres nationwide and various Royal Horticultural Society sites.
“My father started the business in 1969, purchasing one building on site for just £80. Since then we have expanded to 100 acres of nursery production, growing both in the field and a container range.”
What’s different about the way you grow?
“We are unique in growing in fields rather than under glass like our competitors. As far as we know, we’re the only nursery in the UK using this approach. One of the benefits for us is that this approach uses drastically less peat than growing in pots.
“We aim to be 100% peat-free by 2025, ahead of the Defra deadline for this of 2030. Right now, we’re peat-free at our ‘potting on’ and ‘planting out’ stages.
“As well as our own fields, we work with another AF Member, Richard Ling, who farms locally. We use Richard’s fields as a break crop, and it works as one for him too. Roughly 25% of our bare root production is grown on our own fields in rotation with his arable crops.
“Changes to farm payments and introduction of Environmental Land Management schemes mean our system is beneficial to Richard, as our crop timings fit in better with some cover crop options than traditional arable crops.
“We propagate virtually everything that is planted out in the fields ourselves, meaning we are self-sufficient and have more control over costs.”
What changes have you made?
“During the winter we installed new raised beds in our glasshouse propagation area. These allow us to use electric-powered heat mats, rather than heating the whole glasshouse with gas heating.
“Over 15 years ago we installed 40 solar panels on one of our buildings, and it proved the right decision to make. Since then, we’ve installed 116 panels on another shed, backed up by two Tesla batteries totalling 27 kWh storage capacity. In summer months we’re self-sufficient, although in winter we still have to import some power.
“The batteries mean our power usage at night is taken care of, but they can drain quickly if the heated propagation beds are in use. The system also provides back-up in case of power cut – our office could run for two days just from the batteries, providing the kettle isn’t used!
“We are passionate about the environment and are happy that much of our energy is produced on site, however there’s still scope to improve. We recycle as much as possible both on and off site, including shredding paper brought in from local travel agents! We use this to pack the boxes plants are sent out in.”
How is AF helping you?
“Since becoming AF Members in October 2022 we’ve been procuring red diesel and gas, and currently are exploring options for insurance. The next most important thing to look at is our electricity. This is slightly complicated by the export agreements we have for the solar panels. They are especially important in summer when we’re over-producing electricity and exporting to the grid.”
What are your plans for the future?
“We have two irrigation reservoirs on site and after the recent climatic events such as extreme heat and drought in 2022, combined with masses of rainfall over the past winter, another irrigation reservoir would be the most sensible addition to make to our business next.
“Installation of at least one wind turbine on site would mean we import less energy from the grid and could make the most of windy weather when the sun isn’t shining as much.
“We have planning permission for another glasshouse on site, which would help us service more garden centre clients who want plants earlier in the season. However, we’re unsure if this is a direction we’d like to go in.
“We don’t make rash decisions or investments. As a business that employs over 50 local people without the use of any agencies, we’re important to the local community so we’re very conscious about being a reliable and secure business.”
