Feeling chipper

1:22pm Wednesday 20th February 2008

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AN ORGANIC nursery owned by former Grand Prix champion Jody Scheckter is replacing its gas-guzzling boilers with an environmentally-friendy one run on wood chips.

Jody and his wife Claire have organic farms at Overton, at Walhampton near Lymington and bought three acres of glass on seven acres of land at Kings Lane, Sway, two years ago.

The Kings Lane nursery - now named Laverstoke Park - will be totally organic this year.

And the fuel needed to fire up the boiler to protect plants from frost and encourage growth will be from a sustainable source.

The project represents a £200,000 investment but it will save money as soon as it is operational.

The old gasfired boilers were proving very e x p e n s ive and were nearing the end of their lives, said Mike Mallett, fresh produce manager.

"We had a gas bill last year of £15,000 a month, so you can see the payback will justify it. The savings should be in the region of £60,000 to £80,000."

The new boiler will run on chipped wood pellets fed into the furnace along an auger at amaximumrate of a tonne every four hours. The furnace will heat an 86 cubic metre heat store water tank which will distribute heat where it is required.

The boiler will normally work at a 30 to 50 per cent rate, only burning at top rate on frosty nights.

Plants that will be grown there this season include french beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, baby leaf salads, basil and strawberries.

The site will also be used for propagating nearly two million seedlings for the Scheckters' organic empire.

The Heizomat boiler will consume several lorry loads of fuel a week.

Mr Mallett said sources of chippings had been located but more would be required. He wants to hearing from tree surgeons and people with woodland to coppice.

"We've got all this fuel around us; thousands and thousands of tonnes in the New Forest, and we're keen to use it."