Contact | Five a Day Market Garden

Our address is:

Five A Day Market Garden, The Street, Englefield, Theale, Berkshire RG7 5EL

To email us, please complete the Contact Us form below, thank you.

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Welcome to the garden

Spring has sprung! The daffodils are still filling the garden with colour, and the broad beans are in flower.

Would you like to work here? We are recruiting a Project Coordinator (or two job-sharing). Here’s the role description Five a Day Project coordinator March 2019

It’s a wonderful job looking after the garden and working with the different groups who visit. This is an ideal role for someone with horticultural therapy skills and experience.

NEW EVENT on 30th March!

Needle Felting Workshop to make adorable sheep. Saturday 30th March from 10am to 1pm. Details and how to book on Events and Courses.

Volunteer sessions in the garden are on Wednesday and Friday mornings, usually from 10am to 1pm although times are flexible. If there is a lot of interest for volunteering on other days we will do our best to set up new sessions.

Discover how you can grow vegetables and flowers, meet interesting people, have fun and enjoy the peaceful environment of Five a Day.

Read our Spring newsletter, full of news, ideas and stories.

While Yvonne, our wonderful Five a Day project coordinator is recovering from an illness, please contact Wendy Tobitt, Chair of the Five a Day Management Committee if you have any queries about the garden.

Tips from our head gardener

VEGETABLES –

In mild areas you can sow overwintering broad beans in situ (mild regions only).

Carrots and peas can still be sown in cold frames, but only in mild areas

Finish planting autumn onion sets for a crop in early to mid-summer next year.

In the south of England, green manures can still be sown.

FRUIT

Take cuttings of blueberries, currants and gooseberries and dig up rooted layers of black- and hybrid berries.

Prepare the ground for new fruit trees, nuts, vines, canes and bushes

Monthly Seasonal Recipe

Turks Turban Risotto

Ingredients:

1lb/450g flesh from a ‘Turks Turban’ or other squash, chopped
Olive oil
2oz/60g butter
1 small leek, finely sliced
8 slices of pancetta or thinly sliced streaky bacon
1 clove garlic, chopped
8oz/225g risotto rice (my favourite is carnaroli)
4 sprigs of thyme
4fl oz/115ml moscatel or other sweet white wine
18fl oz/500ml chicken stock
4oz/115g Somerset Brie or Fontina, rind removed, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/gas 6. Spread half the chopped squash (choose the neatest chunks) on a baking sheet and toss in a little olive oil. Roast for 10-20 minutes .
Heat the butter in a large pan. Chop half the pancetta and add to the pan along with the leeks and the leaves from the thyme. Cook until softened, but not coloured.
Add the crushed garlic and the rest of the squash to the pan and stir well. Cover and cook gently for five minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for two minutes, stirring, until the rice is opaque.
Pour in the moscatel and allow to bubble up until the liquid has all but evaporated away.
Make the risotto in the usual way spooning in ladles of the stock
Meanwhile, cook the remaining whole pieces of bacon or pancetta in a dry frying pan until golden and crisp.
Spoon the risotto into bowls and crumble the crisp bacon on top. Eat straight away

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