A new business moved into the Food Exchange last week, but they are no strangers to the Flower Market. Here, we introduce MarmaladeJam Gardening, run by husband and wife team James and Emma Althaus, by asking Emma a few questions about the business

Tell us a little about MarmaladeJam Gardening Ltd – what does the business offer?

James started the business in 1999 as a one-man-band planting gardens. Over the next 16 years, the business developed into a design and build landscaping firm. From there our planting and maintenance arm developed as our clients were desperate for continuity of care for their new gardens.

I joined in 2007 and we currently have a team of 11 strong. In 2015, we decided to move away from hard landscaping to James’ first love of planting so now our focus is on caring for our clients’ gardens through regular maintenance and planting design and implementation.

How did your name come about?

James was looking at office space in the old Hartley’s Jam factory in Bermondsey, which is near his home in Peckham, and was determined to have ‘Jam’ in the name… He never did move in, but the name stuck fast.

You were previously based in Peckham - are you excited to be joining the existing community at the Food Exchange? 

So excited! We loved our artisanal yard in Peckham, but the move to the Food Exchange feels like a real gear-change for us. We are so much closer to central London and our clients and teams. It is great to be amongst so many creative people and everybody is so welcoming and helpful.

We have had New Covent Garden Market in our sights for quite some time, so it is wonderful to be here finally.

You’ve already established relationships with the Flower Market – now that you’re based in the market will that help your business? 

Several of our suppliers are based in the Flower Market so our location here ties in very nicely with our day-to-day requirements for plants and materials. We expect this will really help streamline aspects of our operations.