To celebrate the joy of growing your own fruit & veg, our new ‘From the Plot’ series takes a closer look at some of the special growers who generously share their practical knowledge with others. We recently spoke to Instagram gardener Steve Newland who some of you may already know as @snewland97.
Want to know more about the man behind the hilarious ‘sink or swim’ posts? Here’s the full, no holds barred interview…
My love of gardening started with my mum
My name is Steve Newland and I’ve loved gardening all my life. I grew up In Hampshire and Yorkshire and have always spent a lot of time in the garden.
My mum always was, and still is a keen gardener. She’s now in her late 80s but still grows tomatoes, saves seeds and sends them to me. This is where my ‘Steve’s Mongrel’ tomato came from. (I’d sent my mum saved seeds and she grew ‘the Mongrel’ from what I thought was ‘Black Beauty’!)
As a 14-year old, I remember making cider from apples I’d picked from a tree I’d grown from seed. It wasn’t scientific – think buckets, sheets and cricket bats as the main tools for pressing and straining the juice!
My first allotment
Image courtesy of Steve Newland
I’ve had an allotment for over 20 years now. In fact I’ve had 2 plots for the last 3 years. Currently I live and grow just outside Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
It amazed me how negative my work colleagues were when I originally told them I’d got an allotment. ‘That’s for old men’ was the view. That chorus of disapproval soon turned to ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ when I started taking in fresh asparagus, strawberries and raspberries.
My background involves a degree in psychology and a professional qualification as a chartered surveyor and I worked in that industry for 30 years before resigning from my job a week before Covid hit. I’ve never gone back to work as I enjoy gardening too much.
What I like to grow
Image courtesy of Steve Newland
I love to grow the usual fruit and veggies, but really like to try something new every year whether it’s luffas, sweet potatoes, winter melons, Malabar spinach or just a new variety of tomato.
People know me for loving a few crops in particular – leeks, onions, potatoes, cucumbers and of course tomatoes. I actually have a TikTok account called ‘Tomato Steve’!
I try to grow as chemical-free as possible, use mostly the ‘no-dig’ method, and love to grow something all year round – and vitally to have lots of native flowers on the allotment to help the bees and pollinators.
I help to run my allotment shop and love chatting with people in the wonderful instagram garden community.
Some crops don’t seem to work for me. I am especially bad at growing carrots, swede and onions from seed!
Top gardening tip
Image courtesy of Steve Newland
My favourite gardening tip is ‘grow what you like and don’t worry about what other people are growing’. Gardening is a hugely personal hobby and experience, and realising that you can do whatever you want and try it all your own way is a massively positive thing to understand.
And finally, for now I love pushing the boundaries of scientific research testing various fruits and veggies for buoyancy with my ‘Sink or Swim’ posts!
Grow like Steve
Image courtesy of Steve Newland
If you want to buy some of the products Steve grows, here’s a quick shopping list:
- Tomato seeds
- Leek seeds (to join Steve’s grow-a-long)
- Onion sets
- Potatoes
- Cucumber seeds
- New and exciting veg seeds (anything just launched)
You can follow Steve over at @snewland97. And if you want to read about other inspirational growers, check out our #suttonsfromtheplot series over on Instagram.
