How to Sow Carrots in Patio Planters

So you want to grow your own Carrots?  Well, not only do we sell Carrot Planters that make it easy to grow perfectly formed carrots on your patio, we've also got some helpful advice on how to get started:

Step 1: Add a layer of gravel to the bottom of your planter, just level with the drainage holes.	Step 2: Add multipurpose compost up to 4cm/1½ inches from the top of the Planter and water if very dry.
Step 3: Mark out 2 trenches 1/2 inch/13mm deep 6ins/15cm apart. I’ve used a bamboo cane here, but you can use a 'dibber' or even a finger if you like!	Step 4: Empty seeds into the palm of your hand – this will make it easier to space the seeds out when you go to sow them in the ‘drills’ you made.

SOW LIKE THE EXPERTS: Starting with the little finger, roll each digit in a 'mexican wave' fashion so that the seeds roll off the side of your palm. This takes a bit of practice, so try doing it on a folded sheet of paper first.

Remember to sow thinly, carrots need space and 'thinning out' will only increase the risk of attracting carrot fly.

Cover over the drills you made with compost and water using a watering can. Make sure the ‘rose’ head attachment is fixed on securely so you don’t wash all the seeds away!

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Haxnicks at the Malvern Spring Show

Kim Aldred (Assistant to the Sales Director) will be running the Haxnicks stand again this year, and would like to welcome all of the visitors to her favourite spring event.


"Malvern is such a great show - you get to meet so many gardening enthusiasts, young and old - and there are also loads of bargains to be had.  I love it!"

Kim's sister Danielle preparing the stand with Tom

Kim and her team are on hand to answer any questions you may have about Haxnicks products and competitions.

They can be found at stand number 514 at The Malvern Spring Show from 12th - 15th May.

Growing Potatoes: 'Earthing Up'

In a previous blog we encouraged you to try 'chitting' - how are you getting on?  Here's how the official Haxnicks potato planter is doing - not bad, but we are sure you can do better, especially with this next piece of advice:

Tip: 'Earthing Up'
In terms of your Haxnicks Potato Patio Planter - this is the process of adding more soil around the stems of your potato plant to encourage the plants to produce more tubers.  Simply keep adding compost as the plants grow!

If you would like to win £100 and other Haxnicks goodies simply by growing potatoes - check out our Great Potato Gold Rush Competition.

Learn more about using Potato Patio Planters here

Don't forget to keep watering your Potatoes and let us know how you get on!

Grow Cucumbers in your own back yard!

In this months Gardener's World Magazine, there were a few of our products used in an article on outdoor cucumber growing.

Did you spot our aqua coloured Pots Naturally and fleece Easy Tunnel? 

Here are some more products to help you with your cucumber growing, whether sowing/planting outdoors, along the ground as suggested in GW, or climbing varieties inside the greenhouse...

GROWING OUTSIDE (trailing varieties): 


Victorian Bell Cloche

These fantastic plastic cloches are perfect for plants that belong to the plant family Cucurbitaceae, (which includes cucumbers, squashes and melons.) as they thrive in humid conditions.  The cloches make sure the young plants are protected from frost, and the ventilation shaft at the top helps prevent wilting/scorching.  Beware of using these in summer, as it may become too hot - use Net Easy Tunnels in order to provide shade and protection from hungry garden visitors.

GROWING INSIDE (climbing varieties):

3 and 6 Cane Patio Planters

Used with bamboo canes and CaneToppers, these planters are fantastic for tender climbing Curcurbits, and easy to move.  Use either long or short bamboo canes, depending on the height you wish your climbing cucumbers to reach.

Tomato Patio Planter

Our Tomato Patio Planters (in red, left) come with an attractive metal frame that allows tomatoes and cucumbers to grow within the structure giving continuous support throughout the plants life. TIP: Grow your climbing vegetables to the top of the growing frame and then cut off the tip, allowing the plant to concentrate it's efforts within the frame, giving you a bushier plant.

Soft Tie 

This ingenious invention can be used for many things - in this case, Soft Tie can be used to secure the stems of your cucumbers up vertical supports (such as bamboo).    The wire inside is coated in rubber - it's tough but won't damage your plants and so is ideal for securing the plant as it grows.

Good luck - and please send us your pictures of your cucumbers growing in Haxnicks products, we would love to see them and will post them up on this web site for all to see!

Dave Chappell & Haxnicks at the Lakeside Garden Centre

Robbie Cumming, Marketing/PR writes:

Spending the day at Lakeside in Warminster was invaluable to me and hopefully for some of the customers I spoke to.  The day started fairly slowly, but by the end I had a non-stop flow of families stopping by my Potato Patio Planter demonstration and asking all kinds of questions!

Luckily, Champion Grower, RHS Gold Medallist and past Gardener's World presenter Dave 'Taffy Tatties' Chappell was on hand to help!

Mr Chappell about to be showered in praise and/or compost from Robbie's Planter!

Mr Chappell is quite a character as some of you will know.  He travels the width and breadth of the country giving talks about growing and showing spuds, whilst entertaining everyone with his awful jokes.  I can say this as I know he won't be reading our blog, preferring the written letter to 'anti-social nit-twerping'!  So please, no one tell him!

If you would like to visit Lakeside Garden Centre (they do a cracking bacon and brie panini) you'll find them on the A350 just outside of Crockerton near Warminster in Wiltshire.  Call on 01985 217 413 for more information.

If you would like to contact Dave Chappell and perhaps invite him to your garden centre, school or gardening club you can call him on 01291 420 048.  Or why not write to him : Mr D Chappell, Taffy Tattie, 42 Caldicot Road, Rogiet NP26 3SE.  I don't think he has a Facebook page or Twitter account though!

Haxnicks Long Fruit Cage

Amateur Gardening Magazine is a definite Haxnicks' fave with all of us here, and with offices in Poole, Dorset - not too far away either.
However, we had a real shock when leafing through a recent issue...

Gardening editor Kris Collins with our fruit cage sawn in half!!

Ok, on closer inspection, we noticed that he hadn't butchered our beloved long fruit cage, only created a brand new 6m one from the 3m long original!  Our cages are incredibly versatile, lightweight and easy to manipulate, and Kris has proved this brilliantly.


So that made us think - what can you make with yours?  Read the instructions that are included for ideas, and then send in photos of your creations.  You're guaranteed to appear in our customer's photos album, and you may even win a prize!


Send images to lovetogrow@haxnicks.co.uk

Bamboo Fruit Cages available now in most garden centres and online!

Growing Strawberries with Pippa Greenwood and a Kitchen Garden Cloche

Pippa's done it again and we can't thank her enough... in her segment 'Pippa's Growing Tips' in Gardeners World Magazine theres a lovely photo not of Madeleine Cardozo (author of Down to Earth) this time, but of Pippa herself with a Haxnicks Kitchen Garden Cloche.

Now we're not saying this is the only possible cloche available to help protect young fruit and vegetable plants in the garden, but it is convenient with an elegant handle.  Also Pippa does note that Fleece or Cloches can be used and we assume that to mean Tunnels - of which we have plenty!

We recommend you visit Pippa Greenwood's website for dozens of tips and tricks about grow your own veg.  Her Books, Blog, Articles and even the Ask Pippa service are all listed here - please do take a look - http://www.pippagreenwood.com.

Recently Haxnicks have had some excellent coverage in the press and we hope you the customers are able to get the results you want, we're always delighted to hear your successes and failures (not too many we hope).

Remember, if your local garden centre doesn't stock the items featured, visit our shop to order online, or call 0845 241 1555 to speak to one of the members of our friendly sales team.