- Posted February 22, 2011
Yorkshire inventor Robin Rose has created a range of ingenious products to make growing crops easier for the elderly, disabled and children – his latest is to be unveiled at The Edible Garden Show next month in a joint-venture with Hull-based social enterprise, Probe.
Robin’s innovative micro-salad growing kit ‘Sproutapouch’ has captured the imagination of keen gardeners of all ages leading to global sales rocketing to over 100,000 in ten months. The unusual pouch, in which seeds germinate and are ready to eat in just six days, is being snapped up by schools across the UK and Europe and orders are now rolling in from the US and Japan.
That’s not all. Robin’s unique Sticklebag – a designer growing bag kit with collapsible bamboo canes and compressed fertilised compost discs – was featured on ITV1’s This Morning programme and is now being rolled out by seed giants Thompson and Morgan.
Robin and his wife Margaret launched Higrow in April 2009 after the ideas received backing from an entrepreneur in Hull.
The 57-year-old former furniture maker and vocational tutor to people with severe disabilities said: “When the grow-your-own phenomenon hit, it occurred to me there was little out there for people with special needs, disabilities or the elderly who loved to garden but were physically unable to do so. I wanted to create products to solve that problem and Higrow was born.”
Higrow will showcase a range of new space-saving and innovative products in partnership with Probe (Hull) Ltd as both companies make their retail show debuts at the first-ever national grow-your-own event – The Edible Garden Show 2011 – which takes place at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire from March 18-20.
The two companies will launch the new Square Metre Garden at the event to demonstrate how people with restricted space or city residents with only a balcony can grow their own crops. This space-saving product is an enclosed, raised bed with vegetable plants in up to nine containers and four years worth of compost.
Both firms started working together when Probe launched Food 360, a grow-your-own initiative backed by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme, in April 2010.
The Square Metre Garden initiative will be run by Probe. General Manager Steve Alltoft says: “It’s an exciting time to be launching new, accessible and affordable outdoor products, especially in conjunction with Higrow. We also hope that local jobs can be created in the manufacture of the garden.”
Adrian Fisher from Food 360, which is sharing Stand 325 with Higrow, said: “The project was launched to encourage people in east Hull to move away from the ‘takeaway’ culture and try to grow their own food. We have had a weekly food market and free cookery lessons with advice on how to cook with seasonal food. The two-year project provided starter packs of seeds and tools and the advice of a professional gardener to encourage residents to grow their own produce.”
The Edible Garden Show is now just weeks away. The event brings together a wide range of experts and exhibitors giving visitors an insight into how to get the very best out of their home-grown produce. The show coversall aspects of gardening, allotments, grow your own and healthy eating – as well as beekeeping, poultry and livestock.
Show partners include the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners and Mirror Group newspapers. The event also has the support of the Women’s Institute with experts from the famous WI Cookery School at Denman College, Abingdon, providing cookery demonstrations and offering advice to visitors on everything from preserving, jam-making and pickling to creating tasty recipes.
The Edible Garden Show has something for all the family including:
- Advice from The Poultry Club of Great Britain on all aspects of keeping chickens with experts giving daily advice on husbandry, breed selection and breeding and health issues.
- Everything you need to know about bees with The British Beekeepers Association providing demonstrations and advice on beekeeping.
- Tips on getting the best from your vegetable patches from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.
Tickets for the event are just £11 with concessions for children, students and elderly visitors Call the ticket hotline on 0844 338 8001.
February 2011
Media Contact: Paul Smith Associates 01420 22532