Growing concern: Garden co-op now home to thriving produce business

Alex Wingrove knows how to get a lot of vegetables out of 1.2 hectares (three acres) of land and the plan is to get even more.

Article content

Wingrove runs Country Market Garden with his wife, Paige Wingrove, who handles the marketing side. They operate on land rented from Angelo Ligori at 6914 Grande River Line, west of Chatham.

Article content

Alex Wingrove began the garden business on a third-of-an acre of land on his grandmother’s property on Riverview Line in 2017.

Country Market Garden grew in 2021 after Ligori advertised garden plots for rent at his Grande River Line home that backs on the Thames River.

Wingrove showed up and rented eight garden plots, Ligori said.

Many plots initially were rented by gardeners, but they have moved on and the Wingroves have taken over all the land, he said.

“It’s been great,” Ligori said of how the couple turned the co-op into a business.

Article content

“Angelo has been a partner. . . giving advice and mentoring along the way,” Alex Wingrove said.

Country Market Garden grows tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, peas, beans, kale, lettuce, and onions and more, Wingrove said. “If you can think about it, we probably grow it here.”

The couple have set up greenhouses on the property and are taking their business to the next level.

“We try to grow as much as we can on as small of an area as we can,” Alex Wingrove said. “We pump quite a bit.

“Out of three acres, we probably plant the whole space twice or three times sometimes,” he added. “It quickly multiplies to a larger-scale operation when you think of it that way.”

Getting as much produce out of the land is necessary to serve the growing retail operation, which includes a vegetable stand on Grande River Line and area farmers’ markets.

Article content

The business will soon begin its vegetable delivery program, supplying 80 customers with weekly boxes of fresh vegetables, Wingrove said. That’s up from 60 customers last year, and there is plenty of room to grow.

“We have room to grow up to a max of 240 (boxes) in this space,” he said.

Different types of tomatoes were planted in the greenhouse this year and it will be filled with winter carrots and spinach later this year.

“That’s the next step for us, to grow in unheated structures throughout the winter,” Wingrove said.

Wingrove’s interest in growing fresh vegetables for a living began with a summer co-op program as a John McGregor secondary school student in 2016. He later studied at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus.

Article content

Paige Wingrove, who grew up on a Dresden-area farm, said, “I didn’t really have the interest (in farming) up until . . . (Alex) started and I was helping out.”

With the recent arrival of their first child, she is enjoying their business.

“I love being able to just come and get whatever vegetables I want without having to worry about the grocery store prices,” she said.

Alex Wingrove said the business surged after they expanded.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic generated “a huge uptick in people looking to support local, they were looking to buy fresh.”

While there was a decline after the pandemic, he noted business has picked up thanks in part to word-of-mouth advertising and people wanting fresh, locally grown produce.

“People are finding us,” he said.

For more details, visit countrymarketgarden.com.

[email protected]

Article content