About usElaine Kirkaldie was born into a seafaring family in Ramsgate with no garden. Every summer, her parents put a huge effort into “vertically gardening” the front of their terraced house in Kent Place. They specialised in pelargoniums to great effect and once got placed in Britain in Bloom. The whole show took two hours to water by hand every evening. Mum took all her own cuttings every autumn, which were over wintered in south facing bedrooms. This must have been where Elaine caught the bug for plant raising. She always had a zest for an outdoor life both at sea and on land and has spent her life pursuing those activities to the full. She joined the WRNS then worked on a trawler for 9 years, followed by some valuable experience at a large horticultural nursery in Faversham. She has also tried her hand at duck farming, running a fishing business and, for the past 22 years, with the family oyster company, Seasalter Shellfish, directed by partner John Bayes. When Elaine decided to retire, she enrolled at Hadlow College for a 2-year course achieving HNC in Commercial Horticulture, before embarking on her latest venture, Coastal Plants. John Bayes was born into a mill owners family in Manchester. His parents were keen gardeners. John studied Zoology at Durham University and kind of stumbled into aquaculture and the oyster business by accident. 40 years later he is a World-renowned expert on shellfish production and has travelled extensively. Now also reaching semi-retirement,(This means he now occasionally takes a day off) he too has a keen interest in plant raising. However John likes taking cuttings best. I guess it’s that Mancunian “something for nothing” streak. As they have an acre of well-stocked garden, there’s plenty of room to practice his art. Whereas Elaine prefers to specialise in drought tolerant plants raised from seed.
|
   |