Origins - The nursery was started by Darren Shipp in 2016. Working at his family winery for over 10 years, Darren gained a keen interest in the food industry and first-hand experience in running a business. After the winery relocated to a new site in a village called Henllan, Darren decided to turn his long-standing interest in growing edibles into a fully-fledged business. As the business focused on growing plants for the kitchen garden, it began under the name Ediplants. In 2020, after successfully expanding the nursery to now supply a large selection of ornamental as well as edible plants, Darren decided to change the name to Bedwen Plants.

All about flavour - Bedwen is first and foremost dedicated to supplying all kinds of plants for the kitchen garden. With a passion for food, the nursery has always had an aim to track down the most flavoursome varieties of fruit and veg. Choosing the right variety of plant has the biggest impact on how our home-grown crops will taste. Surprisingly, many of the most common plants grown by the home grower are the same varieties as supermarkets sell. It's a well-known fact that plants bred for their produce to be sold in supermarkets are more concerned about the yield, transportability and appearance of the crops above their actual flavour. We make it a priority to find plant varieties which produce the most delicious crops.

Environmental footprint - The plant and garden industry has been a major contributor to pollution and damage to eco-systems over recent years. This is something that we see as extremely important and it’s a constant mission for us to do what we can to improve our environmental footprint. In order to do so, we have focused on the three most environmentally detrimental areas: plastics, pesticides, and growing media.

1. Plastic – Plastics are unavoidable for a plant nursery as they are used in all stages of plant production. At Bedwen, we are enormously proud to have developed a system to pack and send online orders without sending plastic. The plants are first removed from their plastic pot or cell tray. They are then wrapped in paper towel and degradable bags that hold moisture. The boxes we use are specially designed to fold over and hold the plants in place so there is no need for any extra packing material. This system allows us to re-use the plastic we cannot avoid over many years while reducing any further plastic impact on our customers and the environment.

2. Pesticide - Pest control is a major issue for the plant grower. The use of poisons commercially and by the home grower has caused major damage to eco-systems. At the nursery we are committed to only using natural methods of pest control and ensure daily monitoring of our plants so we can quickly react to any major pest issues. Our methods include spraying aromas such as garlic to deter pests or simply manual removal. While this is not the most cost-effective way, we believe it is essential for the environment. The latest studies have shown that slug poisons in the garden have been a major contributor to our dwindling frog and hedgehog population. Due to this, we are no longer going to stock any slug pellets and have sourced sprays and pellets that dry out slugs rather than poisoning them.

3. Growing Media - Peat is formed in bog lands over many years. Its nutrients and structure make it an ideal growing medium for plants. However, the rate at which it is being used commercially and in the home garden has damaged natural eco-systems considerably. While some of the plants which we order in contain peat, we are proud to be completely peat free in all our in-home production at the nursery.