The gourmet grower

In the past decade, the ingredients used in high-end dining – baby vegetables, heritage tomatoes, intense microherbs, edible flowers – have changed dramatically. Ken Holland has been pivotal in that process. The produce grown in his two-acre walled garden in Little Harle, Northumberland, is crucial to the dishes created by influential chefs, such as Tom Kitchin and Jason Atherton.

‘We work with chefs who cook seasonally,’ says Ken, who runs the business with his wife, Tracy, and has over 100 on his waiting list. ‘You look at Sat Bains, at his two Michelin stars, and think he’d be using specialist outof-season produce from all over.

He’s the complete opposite. I go in

January with a list of what we’re growing this year, and he works his menus around that. He says,

“I’ll use whatever you grow,” and he’s 100% true to his word.’

Until 2005, Ken worked in construction. Swapping bricks for beetroots was ‘madcap’ (‘I was a total novice’), but he loved food and learned a lot. Slowly word spread about Ken’s Ken Holland rare ingredients (he popularised oyster leaf, the so-called vegetarian bivalve) and his ancient, chemical-free methods. For instance, he ‘clamps’ or stores root veg in sand for months: ‘Beetroot gets sweeter as it ages. We’re telling chefs, “It might not look great, but taste it.”’ Not that Ken is a Luddite. Far from it. In 2017, he launched Anarchy Urban Farm (‘I’m an old punk,’ he laughs), an indoor hydroponic facility on a Hexham industrial estate. Using LED lights and organic seaweed nutrients, Anarchy can grow salad leaves and herbs all year round. Ken also installs portable hydroponic units in restaurants, so he can send them living herbs that can be freshly cut for each service. ‘It’s all about quality,’ says Ken. ‘We stand or fall by what our ingredients taste like.’ @northcountryken

Ken’s growing tips ‘Everyone loves pea shoots.

Get a seed tray, some compost and garden centre seeds, keep them damp and warm on a windowsill, and in 10 days you’ll have pea shoots. It’s simple.’ ‘Using the energy in the seed, you can grow stunning things in the dark, like peppery radish shoots. It’s the same process as the pea shoots but with no light – say in a box in an airing cupboard.’

‘In a shed or garage, put an inch of sand in a tray, stick beetroots in it and, slowly, they will start to produce beautiful, earthy, beetroot-flavoured leaves – so you can grow salad leaves in winter.’