We first grew strawberries for Pick-Your-Own back in 1979 on a fairly limited scale (i.e. 4 acres), but have subsequently added many other fruit and vegetable crops. The total PYO area is now close to 50 acres with about 20 different crops grown!
A crucial element to growing these crops is access to water for irrigation. We built our own reservoir in 1983, together with an extensive network of underground mains. We subsequently added more complex drip irrigation systems, which can be controlled from the farm.
Over the years our fruit and vegetable crops have also benefited from the generous use of farmyard manure (courtesy of own cows in the past and now our neighbour`s cattle), which greatly helps soil fertility, and ultimately the quality of our produce.