The 2017 Young Grower of the Year Andrew Tumilty – together with his sister Anna − set up and run Sunnyfields Nursery, at Hightown near Liverpool.

Business is thriving and alongside the production nursery and plant centre, this dynamic duo plans to add a farm shop and butchery in the near future.  

Sunnyfields devote half an acre to quality basket plant and bedding production, sold in trays or used to create striking, top-quality baskets, window boxes and flower pouches. 

Dissatisfied with the consistency of his growing media, Andrew Tumilty switched supplier to ICL and customizes his mixes on site. Using a Levington Advance base growing media mix, including a combination of peat fractions and ICL’s professional quality wood fibre product Fibagro, he adds one of three Osmocote controlled release fertilizers at the bale breaker stage. For baskets and bedding Andrew adds Osmocote Exact Standard 8-9 months; when filling plant pouches and baskets he mixes in Osmocote Exact Hi.End 5-6 months and, to help harden off Pansies and Primroses in spring, he includes Osmocote Exact High K 8-9 month.

“We’ve looked at various feeding options and find Osmocote the most precise in delivering what our plants’ need,” says Andrew. “This translates in to quality - there is a noticeable difference compared to competitor products.  When necessary, we supplement Pansy and Primrose feeding with Agroleaf Power. We include Exemptor, as standard, in all non-edible production mixes to control aphids, which makes one less thing we have to worry about.

“ICL’s Dean Sandford provides our technical support – he comes at it from a grower’s point of view and has helped us develop the business. When we need extra advice, Dean is always there to call on. He’s pushed us to identify problems and provides great support throughout the crop. Together with technical input from Andrew Wilson, we have the utmost confidence in ICL.

“For a small business like ours customer loyalty is essential, we want them to be happy with their plants and come back,” says Andrew. “You can’t get better growing media than Levington. If you want to supply the best quality plants you need the best quality materials.” 

Sunnyfields retails ICL’s Humax Multi-Purpose Growing Media (40litre bags) through its plant centre – “it’s a great add on sale - customers love the quality,” says Andrew.