Website under construction and will go live in Autumn 2012.

 Hello and Welcome

A warm personal welcome from me (Rob):  As a small business we like to do as much in-house as possible, including website design and I've drawn the long straw for developing this website (not a short straw because the task really is very enjoyable).  After a previous career-incarnation involving writing formal technical/scientific reports, where excursions into the whimsical were sternly discouraged, its a liberation to be able to compose material in a more informal and lighthearted fashion.  Our style may be relaxed but we are in earnest about the topic of growing tasty & nourishing veggies in whatever space you may have at hand and with the minimum of associated hard work.  We grow them (& cook them) enthusiastically ourselves and our unique growing system called "HiGrow ", described in the following pages, has evolved from our hands-on growing experiences, coupled with a natural aptitude for innovation (I forgot to mention how modest we are).

This is not a "Here's the stuff, go & fill your shopping cart" kind of website.  Because what we offer is somewhat different, there is need for a little explaination.  As a consequence the site is a little more wordy than usual, but we have, nevertheless tried to keep the content as engaging and entertaining as possible.

A word about our website evolution: The website is new and it is planned to bring fresh sections on-stream progressively, starting with our range of seeds suited for container-growing.  This will be followed in sequence by; our containers, composts/fertilizers and grow-benches.  The early availability of the seeds, containers, composts and fertilizers will provide opportunities to gain experience in container growing before deciding whether to invest in grow-benches.  Our grow benches and irrigation systems are currently undergoing intensive testing through daily use and refinement as a reult of experience.  We have adopted this approach because of repeated experiences of buying garden products, which are either very poorly designed in the first place, or have glaringly not been subjected to a critical period of usage; the designers have clearly never used their own products!.  We want our customers' to be highly delighted with our products and we are great believers in putting in every effort in advance to achieve this objective.  These products will become available in the autumn of 2012.

Why Grow Container Veggies?

There are numerous very good reasons for wanting to grow your own veggies in garden containers. You may well be motivated by the high price, poor quality and limited choice offered by supermarkets. Growing your own  seems a much more attractive option than trusting the health of your family to tired shop produce of unknown origin.  Encapsulated in their little plastic coffins, these offerings have meandered around the planet for perhaps a week before arriving, at high prices, in the shopping trolley at the point of expiry.  They will have lost much of their nutritional value en-route and, if not organic,  will be carrying an unknown cocktail of pesticide toxins. Your knowledge of how they were grown and by whom will be at the best extremely sketchy. 

By comparison, growing your own will provide young, tender and delicious veggies involving a minimal carbon footprint and just a few food-steps, rather than the hundreds and sometimes thousands of food-miles involved with commercial crops.  Since you may garner your produce immediatley prior to food-preparation, your produce will be completely fresh and you will be in control of the growing regimes, which can  mean organic, toxin-free crops.  You will have a complete knowledge of your crop's provenance.  You could of course go for an organic veggie box delivery, but this is expensive and the  boxes invariably contain items you may have preferred not to buy. Half a dozen Kohl Rabbi or a couple of Celeriac, would test the culinary skills of most cooks in a hurry!.

In these overcrowded isles, homes come with ever smaller gardens and the majority of householders simply do not have the space for an extensive veg patch.  Nor in most cases do they have the time as, a result of ever more busy lifestyles.  The solution is to employ containers or even better the sort of integrated growing system we have developed.  You will be surprised by how an abundance of veggies can be delivered by such a modest system, growing carefully selected cultivars, which are dwarf or compact in their growth habit, which have rapid cropping characteristics and which are harvested when still young and tender. 

Many people, like myself, may have a disinclination for heavy, high-agility labour.  In my youth I had been known to indulge in herculean efforts such as double-digging.  Truth to tell,  I now tend to regard these activities as somewhat masochistic and nowadays the soil-surface seems much further away than it did hitherto.  I would much prefer the working surface to be more readily accessible, without the need for bending or kneeling.  Those with mobility and agility restrictions will sympathize. Having made this first logical step, it becomes apparent that there are many other advantages associated with container-growing in elevated benches, like; pest exclusion, easier environmental control, and easy watering - to name just a few. 

Yeah, So What's So Wonderful About HiGrow ?

 There are no comparable growing systems commercially available (a modest way of saying HiGrow is currently unique).  The closest alternative is a wooden growing trug, which is simply a compost bed on legs, but is nevertheless more expensive than the HiGrow model of a comparable size.  HiGrow provides many additional features:

• Adjustable working height: Whether your stature is Lilliputian or Brobdingnagian (Google Gulliver's Travels  if uncertain) or whether you are restrained to work from a wheelchair or prefer to work seated, the growing bed height is adjustable to a comfortable working level;  
• Leveling System: In case your designated site has a slope, we have included the facility for leveling the grow bench, by the individual adjustment of each leg.  This avoids the embarrassment of your growing bed looking like the deck of the Titanic, just before its final dreadful plunge into the black, icy abyss; 
• Strong and durable: We make the grow-bench from strong aluminium pipe, with the growing bed section made of trussed sections (like the trusses in your local steel railway bridge);
• Affordable:  Wherever possible we have utilised existing components, avoiding the high cost of procuring bespoke components.  Unlike so many large companies today, we try to give our customers a fair deal, which means reasonable, very competative pricing.  The result is very good value for money. 
• Different compartments for different crops:  Different crops require different growing conditions, different depths of compost and different fertilizer types.  HiGrow provides separate growing compartments, in which different growing regimes, different containers and different fertilizer may be applied.
• Mini greenhouse covers, shading & insect screens available: These have a full 5 ft of headroom so your choice of crop is not greatly curtailed in terms of crop height.  Just like the sails of Chinese Junks, the covers are stiffened with battons, to prevent them thrashing around in the wind like bats from hell, and the battons are themselves secured with wing-nuts to give a cover of extraordinary security.  The cover system includes; greenhouse covers, shading and insect screens.  The greenhouse cover may be removed or rolled-back and secured for ventilation.  Provision is made for ventilation openings to be covered by insect screens.
• Excludes virtually all pests: We have tried to make  HighGrow as inpenetrable to pests as  Fort Knox is to raiders of a different type.  In addition to the insect screens, which will exclude virtually all flying and crawling pests, the grow bench legs are provided with copper tape to prevent slugs & snails from accessing up the legs (their only route in).  You must however be careful to avoid introducing slugs lurking beneath your seed trays (a favourite hideaway), as like a mosquito trapped inside a mosquito net, they will be unable to get out and will have no choice but to munch away with abandon.  
• Future models with integrated solar thermal collection & storage: Still under test, and due for introduction in the autumn of 2012, these grow benches have simple solar collector and thermal storage elements integrated into the design.  When used with a mini greenhouse cover this will allow solar energy to be collected and stored during late autumn/early winter and late winter/spring.  This will tend to extend the autumn cropping and allow crops to be started earlier in the spring.
• Integrated irrigation system: Neglecting to water your containers can be disastrous and they will need frequent watering. If this must be carried out by hand, it is a real chore.  You will also need assurance that your carefully nurtured crops will be OK during absences from home.  We have developed a built-in, simple and affordable watering system for our containers, which automatically keeps the containers suitably moist on a daily basis and during periods of absence. 
• A selection of seed varieties ideally suited for container growing: Many months of searching for appropriate seeds of cultivars suited container growing and testing these, have resulted in a selection, from which it will be easy to make selection well suited to your needs.

The Rewards of Backyard Veggie Production

There are numerous benefits and rewards to be derived from growing your own veggies, in addition to the obvious financial advantages of growing your own, These benefits are listed below:

• Financial: After any initial investment your produce will be a fraction of the cost of shop-bought alternatives;
• Health: Fresh veggies are a powerhouse of health-giving nutrients and are an essential element in any healthy diet. The quality and freshness of your own vegetables, herbs and soft fruit is bound to reflect in the health of your family. The ability to produce greater quantities than would have normally been affordable means that the five a day target (usually missed) can easily become ten a day, or more;
• Environmental: Your carbon footprint will be reduced as will, proportionally,  the volumes of pesticides and herbicides used in commercial production.  Your efforts, combined with that of many more like-minded individuals, can really make a difference!
• Lifestyle and Educational: There is a deep satisfaction to be derived from producing your own food and progressing garden projects.  Being outside in the fresh air and the gentle exercise involved is healthy and, if you have children, their enthusiastic involvement will instill in them a realisation that food (like all the other commodities they consume in quantity), does not just materialise, but involves human effort and planning.   The practical involvement of children in family team projects in the garden acts to bond the family unit and also provides a healthy, real-world diversion from the fantasy domain of all those "shoot to kill" computer games and the endless fiddling with electronic gadgets.  If you are wheelchair-bound, or of restricted mobility or agility,  HiGrow opens up the prospect of a rewarding activity, previously excluded.  The grow system could equally well be used for, say, Alpines or Bonsai as it can for veggie production.

Perceived Barriers to Backyard Veg Production                                                  

People may believe that the endevour of producing their own veggies is fraught with difficulties and the perceived obstacles, which may deter those with the inclination to grow their own healthy produce from actually taking the plunge are enumerated below:

•  A small garden with limited space for veggie growing;
• Little spare time for allotment undertakings or an  extensive vegetable patch;
• Some degree of reduced mobility or agility;
• A dislike for digging, cultivations and weeding chores;
•  A belief that the required degree of know-how is missing.
• An expectation that the pesky pigeons, slugs, snails, cabbage white caterpillars, carrot root flies and the like will devastate the crop before humans get a look-in.

 Overcoming the Hurdles; The HiGrow Container Growing System

We have designed our integrated container growing system to address each of these problems & make possible, with the minimum of effort,  the production of a wide range of tasty, nourishing vegetables, salad crops, herbs and fruits.

The system overcomes the perceived hurdles in the following ways:

• Vegetable Seeds, which have been selected as  suited for container growing and which mature speedily to maximise the output from small spaces;
• Novel & Ingenious Growing Benches and Containers, which give good access without straining, kneeling or bending and which are usable by those with mobility restrictions.  These systems have  in-built crop protection from pests together with mini-greenhouse covers for extending the growing season and accelerating crop growth;
• Coir-based Composts, which are light to handle, organic and highly sustainable.  Coir is particularly suited for containers as it is moisture-retentive and easily wetted if dried out. The composts are supplemented by a range of organic, slow release fertilisers suited for different crops grown in different containers;
• Irrigation Systems, which "plug-in" as an integrated part of our grow-benches and containers.
• Growing Information, which provides month by month advice & guidance on how to manage your backyard veg production unit.

Veg Seed for Container-Growing

 Searching for veggie cultivars, well-suited for container growing, is extremely time-consuming.   We have spent months finding and testing appropriate seeds, which are particularly suited for container growing.

The varieties selected not only include those suited for growing in our own grow-systems, but also includes varieites which may be grown on windowsills, window-boxes, patio containers and "square metre" gardens.

We have explored the full range of available vegetable seeds, seeking those with good flavour, a compact growth habit, a tolerance of close planting and quick maturing characteristics, which will maximise limited space availability. We have saved you the considerable time, drudgery  and tedium of searching the very large number of  sources of vegetable seeds, looking for appropriate varieties.   We have put together a wide range of varieties, all with good suitability for growing in containers or on in pots on the patio.  These are available in our one-stop Container Veg Shop, free of handling & shipping costs (for orders over £5) - obviating the multiple delivery charges, which would accrue from obtaining them from individual sources. These are offered at very competitive prices and with detailed cultivation advice. Click the image above to go to our Veg Seed Shop.

Grow Systems

 These have been described above and more details may be found by clicking the image to the left. 

 Container Composts & Fertlisers

 You may fill your containers with the compost of your choice. However, we recommend our Coir fibre for various reasons.  It is supplied in compressed bales, which makes it light & inexpensive to transport and easy to carry to the point of use. When water is added it readily expands by a factor of 5 to form the compost; an attribute which means that it retains moisture well and if dried out is easily wetted, unlike peat-based composts, which when allowed to dry out are very difficult to re-wet.  These characteristics make it ideal for containers where good moisture retention is vital.  

The coir compost may have our slow-release fertilisers added appropriate for the crop to be grown in each container, which means that you don't have to buy  different composts for each crop type.  I addition,  Our coir is organic and as a bi-product of coconut production is a sustainable resource.  Our range of Coir products and fertilisers is to be found in our Compost & Fertiliser Shop, by clicking the picture above.
 

Irrigation Systems for Containers

 Visit our Irrigation Shop, by clicking the picture to the left, to see our integrated watering  products.

Growing Information

Our Growing Info Page provides detailed and season-related guidance on; when to sow,  how to grow, nutritional content & health advantages of crops, and cooking ideas.  Click the icon to see the page.