A Family History Rooted In The Soil
For Matt, founder of Gransfield, growing plants is about far more than simply producing something beautiful for a garden. It is a connection to history and a piece of land that has been part of his family’s story for generations.
The roots of Gransfield can be traced back around 100 years, when Matt’s great-grandfather, Sid, grew fruit and vegetables as part of the family’s market gardening business together with his wife Violet. Strawberries were a particular favourite, alongside cabbages, lettuces and other market garden crops, all of which Sid would take to market to sell.
For Matt, the connection to the land became particularly personal through his grandmother. She had her house built on the land in Bishops Waltham, and Matt remembers visiting her there as a child. To him, it was always simply “Gran’s field.” When Matt began growing decorative plants himself, his grandmother was quite literally, Gransfield’s first customer. The name Gransfield was inspired by her and by those childhood memories of visiting her field. Grandad Ron built the first polytunnel at Gransfield, the original frame of which Matt has built the current polytunnel around. The business has a deeply personal connection to Matt’s family history.
From Growing For Fun To Growing A Business
Although the family had been growing fruit and vegetables for generations, Matt found himself drawn towards a different side of horticulture. Around seven years ago, he began growing decorative plants simply for fun. What started as an interest gradually became something much bigger. The passion he had for growing eventually developed into a full time job. Hearing Matt talk about his work that passion is still so evident today. His enthusiasm for the plants, the business and the lifestyle is truly infectious.
Gransfield now specialises mainly in decorative plants, particularly cottage garden classics and perennials, plants Matt personally enjoys and that he considers interesting and relatively easy to care for. There is still a little fruit and vegetable growing happening, but these days it is mainly for those involved with Gransfield to enjoy themselves. What began as a hobby has therefore come full circle. Growing is once again at the heart of the family, but this time Matt is building something of his own while still carrying forward the traditions that began with Sid all those years ago.
30,000 Plants Potted By Hand
The business itself remains wonderfully personal. Matt currently works with a small team, with three people involved alongside additional part-time help when needed. Even with the scale of production increasing, much of the work is still done by hand. The team pot every plant by hand on a small bench in a potting shed that they built themselves using old, recycled materials. This year alone, they produced around 30,000 plants.
Behind every one is an enormous amount of care. Many plants arrive as tiny plugs, sometimes no bigger than a thumbnail and the Gransfield team nurtures them from that early stage onwards. Depending on the plant, they carefully prepare the soil with materials such as perlite for drainage or additional feed for varieties that need extra nourishment.
Gransfield sells plants online too, with plants being carefully sent through the post. Matt has found that the smaller plants tend to travel particularly well, while the larger plants are better suited to being bought in person. Farmers markets remain a really important part of the business, giving Matt and the team the opportunity to meet customers face-to-face. They have also built up a lovely group of regular customers who return to see them at the markets.
Some of the plants Gransfield grows have their own special stories, too. One example is Margaret’s Memory, a protected variety linked to the Alzheimer’s Society. For every plant produced, a donation is made to the charity. Because the variety is protected, Gransfield cannot simply propagate it themselves; they must be licensed to do so. Instead, the young plants arrive as plugs and the Gransfield team takes over the careful process of growing and nurturing them from there.
It is a very hands-on way of growing, and one that reflects the care and dedication at the heart of Gransfield.
Growing With The Seasons
Life at Gransfield is dictated by the seasons. March and April are particularly intense months, with potting taking place day after day as the growing season gets underway. Alongside the plants themselves, there is the constant maintenance that comes with looking after a growing site – repairing paths, maintaining watering systems, cutting grass, strimming and keeping buildings and sheds in good condition.
Then there is the planning. Deciding what to grow, how much to grow, when plants should be brought in, what should be grown under cover and when it should move outside all takes careful thought. For Matt, growing is as much about understanding plants and responding to their needs as it is about putting a seed or young plant into a pot.
Plants For The Gardens Of Tomorrow
The changing climate is becoming an increasingly important consideration for Gransfield and for gardeners everywhere. Matt admits that the recent hot and dry weather does make him worry about the future of growing. Gardens are having to cope with increasingly challenging conditions, and he has noticed a clear shift towards drought-tolerant plants becoming an essential choice for many borders. At the same time, people are living increasingly busy lives and are looking for plants that are easier to care for. For Gransfield, this means paying close attention to the plants that are going to work best for modern gardens particularly varieties that can cope with periods of drought while requiring less maintenance. The changing weather is therefore influencing not only how people garden, but what Gransfield chooses to grow. For Matt, adapting to these changes will be an important part of the business’s future.
From Local Markets To The Biggest Garden Shows
Gransfield is beginning to make its mark at larger horticultural events. This year was Gransfield’s first year at both Sandringham and Badminton with the RHS, where the business received three-flower awards at both shows. There is also a bigger ambition in sight: Chelsea.
Recently Gransfield featured on Gardeners’ World, with filming taking place over two days at the nursery and at the Sandringham show. While appearing on television for the first time was a big step for Matt it’s something he would welcome the opportunity to do again.
Matt also hopes that Gransfield will eventually supply garden centres. It is a natural next step for the business, although supplying garden centres requires a different set-up, including the equipment and processes needed to send plants out correctly labelled and barcoded. It is something the team is already working towards, with Matt hoping it could become a reality in the near future. He openly admits that some of the next steps feel daunting. Building a bigger team, supplying garden centres, appearing on camera and putting himself forward publicly all push him outside his comfort zone. Yet Matt sees that as a positive thing. He believes that doing things that feel uncomfortable is part of growing as an individual.
For a small, hands-on growing business, these achievements are something to be proud of. They demonstrate how far Gransfield has come from those first plants Matt grew simply for fun.
A Future Still Firmly Rooted In The Past
Perhaps the most poignant part of Matt’s vision for Gransfield is his desire to reconnect with the scale of growing that his great-grandfather once achieved. He remembers that Sid used to grow enormous quantities, all by hand, at a time when growing was a thriving industry. Matt’s ambition is to grow more, build a larger team and create a thriving growing business while retaining the hands on connection with plants that has always been so important.
Whatever the future holds, one thing seems certain: Gransfield will continue to be rooted in family, passion and a genuine love of growing. There is a sense that Gransfield is still only at the beginning of its story.
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In the meantime here’s a top tip Matt wanted to share with you;
“We’ve spoken a bit about how dry it’s been this season and that’s been a challenge when you put your plants into the border. A lot of people just water and they would just keep watering it every day which is not great. If you water something every day a little and often the roots grow towards water. Hydrotropism is the word for it, the tip of the root can sense moisture. And so if you keep watering really high up, the roots stay really high up and it leaves the plant vulnerable because you miss a couple of days because you’re away or something, it dies. So you have to water really deep into the bed. Every third day, just absolutely soak it because then the roots will go down into the subsurface of the soil where there’s no evaporation. It gives you much more sturdy strong plants to withstand drought”
Thanks Matt!
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