Grow Your Own at Home

As the grow-your-own movement gathers pace, fuelled by concerns about seasonal eating, shopping bills, and the environment, grow-your-own specialist The Stewart Company has added to its range of equipment to help experienced gardeners and new enthusiasts to successfully grow their own vegetables.

Leading garden supplies company Stewart has added four new easy-to-use products to its range of grow-your-own planters for the 2009/10 growing season.

Grow-in-Box™
Grow-in-Box™ gives gardeners all the benefits of a raised bed in an instant, and is made from 100% recycled plastic. The modular system is flexible and convenient, and can be used to grow vegetables, herbs, salads and flowers in any size garden, patio, balcony or allotment.

Grow-in-Box™ gives gardeners the opportunity to easily create new growing areas in small spaces. Unlike most other raised bed systems which are fixed sizes and shapes, Grow-in-Box™ can be used to create square, rectangular or corner beds in single or multiple depths. This means the system is great for root vegetables as it can be stacked up, and perfect for potatoes as soil can be banked.

Even if you've only got a balcony or patio, a fresh crop of veg is only weeks away when you use Grow-in-Box™ with a Stewart Gravel Tray. The raised beds can be used on a platform for gardeners who have problems kneeling down, and can also overcome problems with your existing soil by using new soil or an organic growing medium.

Grow-in-Box™ is a simple clip-together system which is bought as a kit and can be carried away under your arm from the garden centre for just £29.99.

The Grow-in-Box™ set can be used to create 2 x 50cm square sections at 21cms deep, or 1 x 50cm square double stacked to 42cms deep, or a rectangular bed at 21cms deep. The kit is made up of eight rigid panels, eight corner units, four fastening clips, and two strengtheners for rectangular beds. Full assembly instructions are included.

Key benefits:

• Grow-in-Box™ is free draining, easily accessible and provides early warming for crops.
• It can be used to grow vegetables, salads, herbs or flowers
• For gardens, patios, balconies and allotment
• The modular system allows square or rectangular beds, and planting in single or deeper layers.
• Extra kits can be used to increase the height or size of the bed
• Grow-in-Box™ is manufactured in the UK from 100% Recycled Material 

Kitchen Garden Propagator Set
The new Kitchen Garden Propagator Set is the perfect way to start growing your own. It just needs a sheltered area with natural light for a good crop.

You only need an area the size of a windowsill to grow vegetables, herbs and salads from seed. This makes growing your own economical, and perfect for novices and children.

The set costs just £9.99 and is comprised of:

• 70cm rectangular tray
• 2 x 22cm propagators - base tray and rigid cover with vents
• 1 x 5 small flowerpots.

Cloche Tunnel
The sturdy new 100cm Cloche Tunnel helps gardeners to protect and grow on seedlings and vegetables for years of healthy plants.

The Cloche Tunnel has loads of great design features, including a built-in drop system in the top for slow release of water or feed, to prevent over-watering. It’s also easy to extend by simply clipping on another tunnel to extend crop protection.

Cloche Ends can be added to give guaranteed protection against frost and pests, and the Cloche Ends can also be used together to create a ‘mini cloche’. Cloche Pegs will secure the cloche deeply in the ground or can be flexed to provide venting.

Pricing: 

• 100 cm Cloche - £19.99
• Pair of Cloche Ends- £12.99
• Set of 10 Cloche Pegs- £6.99

22cm Propagator
Growing your own from seed is now accessible to all, with the introduction of Stewart’s windowsill-size 22cm Propagator.

The new smaller size is an addition to Stewart’s popular propagator range. It is a really handy size for a small space or to add to an existing set of unheated propagators. Gardeners just need a small sheltered area with natural light to get a head start on growing seedlings and cuttings during the colder months.

The 22cm Propagator set is made up of a base tray and a clear rigid cover with sliding vent, and retails at £3.79. The new 22cm Cover is available separately at £2.99 for gardeners who already have the existing £0.99 Stewart 22cm Base Tray.

All of the new products are easy to install and can be carried away from garden centres and DIY stores, so there are no delivery charges.

The increasing popularity of grow-your-own has been boosted by a number of schemes to encourage people to grow their own vegetables at home, including:

• Grow Your Own, a campaign to promote seasonal eating and food growing, part-funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• The BBC’s Dig In campaign
• The National Trust’s Food Glorious Food campaign

The Stewart Company is a real British success story. It was established more than 65 years ago, and is now a leading player in the gardening industry. It supplies products including growing trays, planters, propagation equipment, watering products and its groundbreaking 100% biodegradable plastic Bio Flowerpots to over 800 garden centres and national chains including Wyevale, Dobbies, Homebase and Wilkinson.