Before my recent promotion to Gardening Editor, my forays into the world of gardening were shall we say, short and sweet. My gardening skills went as far as growing cress in pots at primary school, or seeing who could grow the tallest sunflower between my brother, sister and I, and inevitably getting bored after a week. Writing about different plants every month and actually understanding how to grow/prune/propagate them has really made me want to start growing my own. One of life's simplest pleasures for me is a bunch of freshly cut flowers, if I could I'd have a vase on my desk every day to cheer me up and let a little nature in. Growing up with only a backyard to play in, I didn't really have many opportunities to practise, until now!
May I present to you... ALLOTINABOX
After stumbling upon these guys on twitter, I contacted the company about potentially featuring them in my gardening section in Living North. The lovely Lorraine answered my query and told me more about her boxes. Two days went by and I received a very beautifully wrapped surprise in the post (my favourite kind of surprise in case anybody was wondering...)
The Urban Gro Box is perfect for people like me who want to grow their own produce but have very little space/gardening know-how. It has been said that I take after my mother, who could kill a cactus from lack of watering... so I was curious to see how I got on with this. Inside my box were five small beautifully packaged seeds, some twine for measuring, some handy plant labels, and ALLOTINABOX's brilliant grow wheel, telling me what to plant and sow when. A one off seasonal box starts from £15.99, but you can order annual subscriptions, browse their range of gardening goodies and even liven up your lunch with some of their homemade jam.
What I love most about ALLOTINABOX apart from the brilliant concept and quirky packaging, is that the company was started in the midst of 'the worst recession in the history of the world', or so people keep telling us. Admittedly the climate isn't great right now, but what we need are more people to start up new businesses so people can start investing both financially and emotionally in our economic climate and ALLOTINABOX are helping us dig our way out of this doom and gloom (terrible pun, I know). Their brightly-coloured boxes really put a smile on my face when I received it in the post and I can now save myself a bit of money by growing my own fruit and veg (my guinea pig will be thrilled).
So I just want to say thank you to ALLOTINABOX for my little box of joy, my seeds might not be much to shout about yet, but I'm doing well! Rocky the guinea pig might have to wait a little longer for his carrots, but I bet when he does get them, they'll be great!
So go on, fill your up your barrow and get growing!
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