The Flower Garden - Sweetpeas

Sweet Peas are an excellent early cut flower to grow and they thrive if you have a polytunnel. They are also very hardy and very easy to grow. They produce a good crop of long stemmed and sweet smelling flowers, whilst taking up only a small area of ground.

Two sowings should be made, one in November for inside flowering and a second in January for outside flowering. The Deep (Sherwood) Rootrainer and the Rowplanter are ideal to sow into.

Fill the cells of the Rootrainer tray with good multi-purpose compost and wet it thoroughly then sow one seed into each cell about 2cm deep. If you are using the Rowplanter, place the seeds 15cm apart.

If you have a heated propagator then place the tray into it or else cover the tray with the propagating lid and leave until the first seeds emerge.

At this stage the trays should be transferred to a bench in the polytunnel (if you have one), or they can be left in the greenhouse to slowly grow on. When the plants have three leaves, pinch out the tops so that the resulting side shoots become stronger and more vigorous than the main stem.

In February/March they can be planted out in the polytunnel in double rows with the plants spaced 15cm apart. If you are using the Rowplanter, you will simply need to slide the rows into the prepared trenches.

It will then be necessary to fix a vertical net to allow the plants to climb or alternatively to tie each plant to its own cane with sweet pea rings.

All that is then needed is to water well and harvest the blooms regularly, not leaving any to form pods.

As soon as the blooms become short stemmed, pull up the plants and replace with the summer crop.

Remember that you can leave the plants in Rootrainers until the weather is warm enough to plant outside.

Plug Plants

If you have not had the time to sow seeds early on, or the facilities to look after them, then buy bedding plants as plugs from the garden centre is the answer.

They will grow on quite happily, without the need for heating and special conditions, until the weather is warmer and they can be planted out into the garden.

Most types of bedding plants are available as plug plants and are sold in the garden centres and mail order catalogues in modular trays.

Once you have brought your plug plants home:

• Fill a Deep (Sherwood) Rootrainer with moist multipurpose compost
• Dib the plug plants in and firm the surface
• Water well with a fine spray so as not to damage the delicate stems
• Place on a sunny windowsill or in the greenhouse till all danger of frost is passed (late May/early June) and the plants can safely be sited outside

Once ready for transplanting simply open the ‘books’ and transfer the plant to its position with absolutely no root disturbance at all.

Rowplanters
The Rowplanter is also an ideal product for growing plug plants. The Rowplanter is based on the traditional method of gutter planting. This method has been proven to give plants a head start and with this product transplanting was never easier. When they are ready for transplanting, you simply gently slide the whole content of the row out into the prepared trench and there is absolutely no root disturbance and the plants are sited exactly as you wish.

Which Rootrainer? - What Size Cell To Use

How deep? That is the question.

Before the appearance of Rootrainers, growers had little opportunity to experiment and compare the merits of different depths of plant pots and in many cases they chose to downsize.

Air pruning of the root (the process whereby roots stop growing downwards when they meet air) occurs more quickly with a smaller pot. This process is not dissimilar to normal pruning that produces a bushier plant. In the case of roots, the air pruning encourages lateral growth and thus develops a stronger root system.

Some growers claim the quicker a plant is in its final growing habitat, the better. Plant too deep and the roots may be below the best top soil and be inhibited by poorer soil. There may also be a better balance between root development and top growth.

However, deep plants may be stronger and more mature, more resistant to disease and environmental changes. Under-bench heating will promote even quicker root growth, without plants having their top growth inhibited.

Deep pots enable growers to plant out earlier and to take advantage of well prepared beds, and good top soil. Growers will find they have different answers and Rootrainers can meet these different needs.

Basically, fast growing root structures, which is true of most vegetables grown in deeply well prepared beds, prefer deep pots, particularly for early growers. Plants that have to over-winter, like perennials may also benefit from deep pots. But annuals that go out after the frosts, into warm, shallow flower beds, and plants required for pots and hanging baskets require a shorter pot.

Most cuttings benefit from a shorter pot to encourage early air pruning; likewise, plants with slow root growth. Some such plants may need to be deeper before they go on out. They can be started in deeper pots and left, or they can be started in smaller pots for early strength and potted on into larger pots if required. This is a particularly easy process with Rootrainers because the pots are identical apart from the depth, meaning that the plant is not disturbed at all.

The ultimate choice is in the hand of the grower which is perhaps what makes plant growing so interesting.

With Rootrainers, instead of "pots" we talk about "cells", where each cell grows a single plant. The shape of the cells is designed to generate a far stronger root system than conventional plant pots. However the choice of size is no different whether you are dealing with a Rootrainer cell or any other plant pot.

Haxnicks and The Incredible Solar Electric Flight

This summer an incredible expedition is set to take place - a group of adventurers will pilot 4 backpack flying machines, known as paramotors, across 2000km, from Monaco to Morocco. The route will involve numerous challenges, such as crossing the notoriously dangerous Pyrenees, and flying over the straits of Gibraltar. Amongst the pilots are Damian Cardozo and Tom Hughes, both from Haxnicks.

Paramotors, for those that don’t know, are backpack engines with propellors, which enable the pilot to fly under an inflatable parachute. The pilots will fly west from Monaco, along the French coast, before crossing the windy Pyrenees and heading South down the Spanish coast, eventually reaching Gibraltar. From here, they will undertake the final challenge, flying over the straits of Gibraltar to arrive in Morocco.

The mission aims to raise sponsorship and awareness for Ataxia UK, a charity which funds research into the causes and potential treatments of the disease. Ataxia is a neurological progressive disease, which over time destroys the body’s coordination.

Check out the pilots, and indeed the whole mission at www.theincrediblewebsite.org, which follows the mission progress along with a whole load of other incredible events, and also has links to donate should you so wish...

Haxnicks Raised Bed System - The complete growing solution for small spaces!

Haxnicks, the plant protection specialist, has developed an easy-to-build Raised Bed Growing System that requires little maintenance and is ideal for growing vegetables, salads and herbs in small garden spaces. The 100% FSC-certified timber raised bed measures 1 metre by 1.2 metre and comes with an optional fitted frame and choice of two protective covers.

Haxnicks Raised Bed Growing System is made up of four parts. The Raised Bed Base is easily built using the four lengths of FSC-certified, pressure-treated timber and rust-free corner-joining brackets. The single bed is 15 cm (6 inch) deep, but if greater depth is required, extension brackets are supplied to secure multiple tiers of the bed base.

The Raised Bed Frame provides a 50cm high, arched, black-metal framework for the protective covers. It slots securely into holes in the joining brackets of the timber base. The covers can then be fitted and secured at the corners for a snug fit.


Create a mini-greenhouse with the PVC Weather Protection Cover , it warms the soil for earlier planting and retains warmth and humidity for quicker growth. Flaps at either end make ventilation easy. Made of heavy-duty, clear PVC, it provides robust weather protection for newly-sown crops.

The Micromesh™ Pest Protection Cover helps retain soil moisture whilst providing the best possible protection from insects, including aphids and carrot fly, and other pests. The ultra-fine mesh allows air and water to easily pass through, but protects against scorching and other weather damage.

Haxnicks Raised Bed Growing Systems are available from all good garden centres or call Haxnicks on 0845 241 1555.

Storing ‘home-grown’ vegetables naturally

Successfully growing your own vegetables is only half the story. The challenge is then to harvest and store your crop so nothing goes to waste. Haxnicks has produced a new storage sack designed to make it easy for root vegetables.

The Vegetable Sack is part of Haxnick’s Jute Naturally™ range of fully biodegradable products made from jute (also known as hessian, or burlap in the USA). The jute sack measures 70cm (2ft 3in) by 40cm (1ft 4in) and is decorated with the names of vegetables suitable for storing in this way – potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, swedes, beetroot. A couple of twine ties are attached to the top of the sack, so it can be easily secured to keep your vegetables safe and sound. The woven jute allows the free passage of air, preventing condensation, so crops are kept cool and dry.

Jute Naturally™ Vegetable Sacks retail at £2.99 each and are available from all good garden centres and selected gardening mail order catalogues.

For stockists or more information, call Haxnicks on 0845 241 1555 or click here.

Chelsea Flower Show Review

Emma models the Bag-to-Boot, whilst Emily tries to hide in the Pea and Bean Planter!

We would really like to thank everyone who came to our stand at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009. It was, for Haxnicks, an incredible experience and we thoroughly enjoyed it, and were pretty much flat out from 7am to 8pm every day!

Because Chelsea is such a great experience we decided early on to get as many of our staff to 'have a go' at running the stand for a couple of days at a time. This provided a great day out and lots of lessons for us at Haxnicks about what customers really think of our products - all positive I might add...

The Haxnicks Planters proved their popularity, selling continuously throughout the show, with a lot of people taking the chance to get some last minute potato planters going- it is still not to late to enjoy home grown organic vegetables.

However ultimately we would like to thank Chelsea for allowing us, during our occasional breaks, to tour (whizz) around the amazing gardens.

Victoria takes a break from her Rootrainer demonstrations, and convinces herself that our Pots Naturally palm tree is actually a real palm, somewhere on a beautiful beach...	...whilst Simon gets into his sales pitch, Julia demonstrates some other uses for the Haxnicks Baby Victorian Bell, and Emily surveys the scene.