welcome!
Felderland PYO Farm is lucky enough to be situated in the Garden of England, making it the perfect Kentish retreat from the hustle and bustle of London life, as well as being a stone's throw from Canterbury, and a favourite for locals to enjoy a great family day out. Tucked in-between Sandwich and Deal's picturesque coastal towns, Felderland Farm is one of the largest Pick Your Own or PYO farms in Kent. We grow a wide range of fresh seasonal produce, including PYO: Strawberries, Cherries, Raspberries, Plums, Blackberries, Sunflowers, Apples, Pumpkins……and more!
FELDERLAND PYO
In recent years we have invested very heavily into producing strawberries on a ‘Table-Top System’, which means you can pick without bending down! The plants are grown in bags filled with coconut coir and using different varieties and techniques, we can spread the harvest across the whole summer!
We crop the strawberries for two years and when the plants are finished, the coir is emptied out onto our fields and incorporated into the soil and donate the plants to local schools!
We also have areas of potted raspberries and potted blackberries which we grow in coir (coconut fibres) and replant on a three year cycle using special long cane material. This helps to give a much better spread for our PYO’ers to harvest, reduce soil-borne diseases and stop the soil being degraded every time we replant!
Why do we use tunnels? The poly tunnels are a vital part in creating the optimum growing conditions for your favourite fruits. They protect our crops from frosts and cold weather, which slow down fruit development AND they protect the plants and fruits from rain which can spread disease and damages the soft skins of our strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. But, most of all.... it means we can pick in the rain without getting wet!
Although we don’t grow the crop organically, we use an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy which employs natural predators and methods to help with pest control, to keep out of season pesticide spraying limited. In the picking season we don’t spray insecticides opting instead for distributing and encouraging natural predators (hoverfly larvae/parasitic wasps/and others), who prey and feed on insect pests like aphids and mites – just like they do in the wild! We also use seaweed-based fertiliser sprays which act as a natural foliar feed instead of complex chemicals to keep our plants producing the tastiest fruit!
SUSTAINABLE FARMING
At Felderland PYO Farm, we are committed to promoting sustainable practices. Here's what we're doing to help.
PACKAGING: recyclable punnets and eco-friendly disposable items in our coffee shop.
LOW FOOD MILES: using local suppliers.
FOOD WASTE: donating surplus fruit and vegetables to local livestock farms and plants to the local schools. We compost all other green waste.
BIODIVERSITY: planting wildflowers / messy areas for wildlife and pollinators. Bird/bat boxes. Bee boxes, natural windbreaks.
IPM: Introducing beneficial insects and holistic practices over using pesticides.