Susan is the brains behind vegswap. She came up with the idea last summer when she had too much rhubarb and watched most of the apples from her four apple trees rot on the ground. Her husband Chris, had recently given up his job to start his own web design business and it occurred to her that they could create a website that would enable gardeners to swap their surplus fruit and veg as well as the things that they made with them. They got to work in autumn 2008 and the website went live to friends and family at the end of January this year. Having completed a summer of testing and debugging they are now starting to promote vegswap and the number of visitors has been increasing steadily. She has personally swapped her produce for some delicious apple juice, lettuce, beetroot and some aubergine plants. Her aim for the site is to see communities swapping across the country and perhaps even the world!
Sue with one of her apple trees today.
Name: Susan
Age: Not telling
Family: My husband Chris and 2 little girls aged 3 and 5
Job: Founder of Vegswap, Locum Vet, Mum, housewife and general dogsbody
Lives: Stoke Gabriel in Devon
How long have you been growing your own vegetables? About 6 or 7 years in some shape or form.
What got you started? The first house my husband and I bought together had this beautiful wooden hexagonal green house which is where I had my first attempt at growing tomatoes. They grew like a jungle as I did nothing to them and produced tiny tomatoes – even though they weren’t a cherry variety. But they tasted great!
What crops do you always grow? Tomatoes and wild rocket (it grows like a weed in my soil and is so expensive to buy).
What are your favourite varieties? I'm really rubbish with my varieties –I always forget to write down what I used last year so end up buying whatever I can find that is cheap (or even better, free).
What’s the most exotic thing you’ve grown? I’m growing globe artichokes at the moment. They haven’t flowered this year so I’m not sure I’ve got it right. But they are beautiful –spiky, almost like a cactus.
What have been your successes and failures of the season? We’ve had the builders in this year so I put lots of stuff in too late (sweet corn, squash, beans, mange tout). I grew two new crops in my greenhouse from seedlings I acquired last minute (one from a swap and one a gift), aubergines and cucumbers. They both did really well with virtually no effort from me. I will definitely be trying them again.
Where do you buy your seeds? Online mainly but I have to admit I subscribe to a gardening magazine and stash all the free seeds for the following year.
Do you buy plug plants? No –I’m too tight to spend the money!
What do you put on the soil/plants to help them grow? Definitely not as much as I should! If a crop needs TLC it won’t grow in my garden. We did build big deep raised beds about 3 years ago and filled those almost completely with compost so I’ve been able to get away with being lazy –so far.
What do you do about slugs, birds, butterflies and badgers? I swear by Nemaslug for slugs (little worms that kill the slugs). The cat takes care of some of the birds but I grow most of our soft fruit in a cage and net the rest. I let the butterflies lay their eggs and the girls and I spend many a happy hour together squashing caterpillars –truly gruesome! And I have to admit that my husband can be found out many a night peeing round the garden to keep away the badgers (It’s supposed to be young male urine so I’m not sure how much longer that will be effective for...).
Do you grow things at home? My plot is in my back garden so yes.
What’s in your shed? It’s so full of junk I can’t get in to it. The hoe and fork are by the door but beyond that its most definitely male territory. The green house is mine though.
What’s your best freebie? Mmm...
What do you wear to work in the garden? Usually whatever I’ve got on. I’m usually dressed to deal with young kids or animals anyway so a bit of mud won’t make much difference.
What activity do you find the most satisfying? Picking and cooking. To be honest, for me it’s all about the end product.
What’s your favourite tool? Hoe
Do you sing or whistle while you work? No. My kids are at an age where there is noise everywhere and I really appreciate the silence of my garden or greenhouse.
What do you think about while you work? I day-dream mainly.
What’s your favourite time of year? Early spring –it’s that realisation when that winter is ending and the garden is coming alive again. It’s so full of hope and anticipation of the summer ahead.
What’s the best thing about growing your own? Having fruit and veg that tastes like nothing you can buy. Warm strawberries straight off the plant, mangetout that is so so sweet....
Do you have a gardening hero? No not really.
Who cooks the food you grow? Me.
What’s your favourite meal? Goodness that’s a hard one. Usually anything cooked by someone else!!!
Which of your produce to you eat the most of? It depends on the time of year. Right now it's tomatoes.
Did you enter the village horticultural show? No –I’m nowhere near a good enough gardener!! I would be laughed out of the hall...
Tell me a funny story. I’m really struggling with the funny story.
Tea or coffee? tea
Strawberries or raspberries? raspberries
Raised beds or traditional? raised beds
New or main crop potatoes? new
Runner beans or French beans? french beans
Onions or shallots? onions
Dig or no dig? I dig but I don’t enjoy it!
If you could give one piece of advice to a new veg grower what would it be? Just plant it and see. Don’t worry too much about all the jobs you’re supposed to do. You would be surprised how much you can grow by popping some seeds in and doing nothing else.
Sue and Chris inherited this useful raspberry cage when they moved into their house.
Contents of the shed - it's obviously been tidied since the interview!
The greenhouse still has tomatoes and chillis.
