Market gardeners made a living from growing fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers to sell at markets across the country. Many men, women and children around Evesham and Pershore used to work in market gardening. It was hard work, but an important job.
We can find out more about it from old photos, local memories and written records – click on a box to start exploring.
Listen below to Reg, Mike and Andrew talking about all the different crops that were grown by market gardeners.
Written records of the crops growers sold survive (click on the side arrows to scroll through).
Oxstalls Farm records shared with kind permission of the Rowland family.
Click on the links below to see larger, easier to read copies:
Can you name these market garden crops?
Keep scrolling through by clicking on the image side arrows to see the answers!
| What is a ‘variety’?
Just as there are many different types of dogs, cats and rabbits there are different types of plums and apples – or any other plant you can think of. When your job is growing fruit and vegetables, it’s important to know what variety (type) you have. Some varieties ripen earlier or later than usual, other varieties may taste or look a little different. One of the most important crops was plums – more plums used to be grown around Pershore and Evesham than anywhere else in Britain. Sales records usually group all varieties together, except for plums. The most popular plum varieties were called Pershore Yellow Egg, Victoria and Czar, but there are many others too! |
 Plum varieties – New Oxford Book of Food Plants (2009) p.79 |
Use the image side arrows to discover the key tasks.
It wasn’t always easy being a market gardener – find out from the records below what problems there could be (click on the side arrows to scroll through).
A Market Gardener’s Prayer
This poem describes all the challenges that market gardeners could face. Can you spot five different problems? Could these issues be avoided or solved, or are they just bad luck?
‘A Market Gardener’s Prayer’ was written and read by local poet Brian Smith.
‘Hovel’ is a local name, used around Evesham and Pershore, for a market gardener’s shed. Many growers had a hovel on their land for storing tools and to give them somewhere to get out of the weather.
Take a look around the hovel below by clicking on the ? buttons to find out what things are.
Find out more about how hovels were used and how different they could be by listening to local memories. Here are the thoughts of Robert, Karen, Tom, Henry, Reg and Bob.