Nov 04, 2024

Agrarian Kitchen Garden Visit and Interview

Recently I got to visit the absolutely amazing Agrarian Kitchen Garden located in New Norfolk, Tasmania. We met with lovely head gardener Mitch Thiessen and he gave us a full tour of their one acre walled garden that supplies the Agrarian Kitchen restaurant with produce through the no dig market garden, berry patch and orchard. We asked him a few questions.

Can you introduce yourself, i.e. how you got to heading up the AKG?

I've been gardening for about 9 years. After working with legend Tony Scherer at Rocky Top Farm and running a kitchen/garden program for 24 Carrot for around 5 years I heard through the grapevine that Rodney and Severine were looking for a gardener to head up their new project at Willow Court in New Norfolk. We met to discuss the project and the rest is history!

Does the garden supply all the restaurant's food?

We grow between 90-100% of the vegetables that the restaurant, kiosk and cooking school use, depending on the time of year. We also grow most of the flowers for ornamental work across the business and currently around 10-15% of the fruit, although we're aiming to increase this over time. We don't have enough space for animals or broad acre crops, so we still use local farmers for meat, dairy, most grains and legumes.

Does the kitchen influence what grows in the garden? OR does the garden influence what is served in the kitchen? e.g. does the chef ask you to grow something for a certain dish? or does the chef ask what is going to be harvested to then create a dish?

Ultimately the menus across the business are dictated by what is available in the garden. It's always produce driven. Our main aim is to grow and capture crops at their best seasonally. So usually it's that seasonality which dictates what's growing. Each week we send a list of what's available and what's coming up and they work their menus around that. In terms of varieties and quantities though, it's a collaborative project where the kitchen and bar will give us feedback on what was good or average, enough or not enough and possibly other varieties or crops they'd like to test and try.

What is the nicest surprise you have had from the garden (interpret that however you want to)?

There have been so many surprises! But one that comes to mind is how inspired people can become after visiting the space. It's always so nice to hear how different aspects of the garden have excited guests and got them energised to jump into their own gardens or kitchens. Particularly guests' interest in our compost section (which I love, but assumed wouldn't be that interesting) leaves me frequently and happily surprised.

How do you manage planning for each season when growing food throughout the year?

We do our crop planning usually around June or July for the upcoming season. It can be tricky timing so many different crops (we grow over 350 types of fruit, veg and flowers) for staggered successions for the restaurant, kiosk and cooking school. One thing that has made life a lot easier is Tend, the app we use to organise all our crop planning. We also use the app for managing tasks, collecting planting data, harvest data and much more.

Mitch explained that they mostly use the soil blocking method which prevents seedlings becoming root bound and reduces transplant shock.

In New Norfolk you have one of the biggest temperature ranges in Tasmania... hottest place in summer and coldest in winter, how do you guys cope with extreme conditions?

Do you see this as an advantage or disadvantage?

It can be a challenge as generally big temperature swings can stress plants out more. But with the right timing we can plant crops around these extremes. Like many growers we also rely on protection a lot during the shoulder seasons. However, I think there are also some advantages, we can grow great heat loving crops such as capsicums, chillies and cucumbers as well as develop lots of sugars in our winter crops thanks to the cold.

The Agrarian Kitchen Garden has a "closed" loop, most of the food is grown in the garden, then eaten in the restaurant, then the food waste is put back to the garden to compost and then once the compost is ready it is put back onto the garden or used to raise seedlings.

Did you find you needed to do a lot to prepare the soil here and how do you maintain it?

Actually, interestingly enough, we started with great soil. The main challenge has been dealing with all the debris from demolished buildings in the site. There's been quite a few plants moved thanks to a slab of foundation being hit. In terms of looking after our soil we focus on looking after our biology as much as possible. We're big proponents of no dig gardening so all of our growing spaces have been set up using a deep compost system. Which not without some issues, can be an amazing way to set up a garden. However, we also take soil tests each year to monitor what's happening with our soil chemistry, carbon and biology. In terms of maintaining soil health, we have set up quite a robust compost system that turns all the waste from both the garden and kitchens into compost and other amendments that drive the fertility of the garden. We spend a lot of time making compost!

Personally, what are some of your favourite varieties of flowers and veggies to grow?

It's always hard to choose favourites but I do always love growing peppers. My favourite variety at the moment is balcanica, they're just so reliably productive and delicious! I also love growing tropea onions. Flowers are a newer frontier for me but I'm currently in love with perennials, particularly Baby's Breath Snowflake and the Deep Blue Sea Holly. But also, dahlias.... For annual flowers though I'm always a sucker for cupcake style cosmos as well as almost any strawflower!

Best gardening tip(s) you can give or have been given?

Get quality seed! That may sound scripted, but we labour this point all the time. I can't say how many instances of failed crops have come from poor quality seed. So many gardeners blame themselves for crop failures when often it can be traced back to average genetics or old seed. You'll be amazed at how having good quality seed sidesteps a lot of problems we can have in the garden. One other big tip is using mulch in your garden. Whilst there are nuances when using mulch, such as not mulching too heavily in cold and wet conditions or using mulch that harbours weed seeds, when timed well and at the right thickness, mulch can be an amazing tool that saves so much weeding, as well as keeps your soil in much better shape. Finally, every garden is different. Whilst it's important to learn from others, you can't always just copy and paste from one garden to another. Be observant and find what techniques work well for you in your context.