Two women who have championed rare vegetable seeds are looking forward to their debut appearance at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Lucy Hutchings and Kate Cotterill of Capel St Mary are already seeing strong growth in their heirloom seed company She Grows Veg.
Now they are heading to the flower show on May 21 as they put on their first display there and are set to appear on BBC's Gardener's World.
Since launching in November 2023, they have sold 30,000 packs of rare and open-pollinated heirloom seeds to growers all over the UK.
Lucy, a former jewellery designer to the stars and marketeer Kate saw a gap in the market for niche seeds.
They provide varieties such as Tromboncino giant butternut squash, Gniff purple carrots, black tomatoes and chicory Rose of Venice.
“The speed in which the business has grown has been phenomenal,” said Kate.
“We knew there was a real gap in the market for heirloom seeds that produce veg that not only tastes amazing but also looks beautiful too, but the response has been better than we ever could have expected.
"We’ve sent seeds to over 5,000 growers in the UK and amazingly, half of our customers are under 35 years old so we’re managing to reach a younger generation of growers which was all part of our mission.”
She Grows Veg will be exhibiting its "Edimental" concept in the Great Pavilion at the show.
Special guest chef Raymond Blanc will be joining the team for the first day of the show to cook some of She Grows Veg produce.
“When we started the business we wanted to promote the link between growing and cooking and open people’s eyes to some amazing and often forgotten veg," said Kate.
"We never expected that within six months we’d be appearing on TV and inspiring a whole new generation of growers.
“It’s all happened so fast, but it’s great to be a part of such a vibrant growing community and we can’t wait to meet some of our growers at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.”
The pair source their seeds from seed suppliers in the UK and internationally and grow the very rarest and hard to find ones themselves in their trial garden.
Each seed pack is supported with its own ‘Sow, Grow and Taste’ YouTube video.
The business has added 30 new varieties since it launched with 156 last year.
“We are completely different to other seed growers as we don’t just trial our seeds at our HQ, we also have normal growers testing them out across the country in different climates and growing conditions. This allows us to offer the best possible growing advice to our buyers,” said Kate.
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