Grow Your Home Gorgeous

In episode three of GROW COOK EAT, we heard from Gary Graham, Bord Bia’s Bloom Manager. He talked about how food growing can enhance and improve the visual appeal of your home and garden. Food growing can be gorgeous, as well as practical, and the show gardens at Bloom are a perfect example of how to combine functionality and form.

Food growing has rarely been seen as glamorous or aspirational. But we’re here to change all that. There are lots of great ways to grow food that can absolutely enhance your home’s beauty.

Use height

Growing does not have mean digging massive trenches in your garden and living in wellies. Growing up a wall, indoor or outdoor is a practical solution to space constraints, and with the right plants, can be like living art.
We grow herbs in pallet walls that are made locally in Waterford from reclaimed pallet wood. The herbs in their varying shades and textures look enticing and tactile and always draw plenty of attention. They’d look as good on a patio as they do at a festival and can be built cheaply to suit your space.

Use your walls, balcony or patio

Hanging baskets are not just for geraniums. They can be used to grow a variety of food, tomatoes, strawberries, peas, peppers and lots more. A line of veg along your garden wall looks gorgeous, interesting and it might save you a trip to the shops a few times a week.

Plant Pots

Stylish, cool, cute, colourful, rustic, metallic…there are loads of styles of plant pots. They come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colours and finishes and will enhance any outdoor space. Whether you have a tiny balcony, a little patio, or an expanse of decking, plants in pots will look amazing on it. Try growing beetroot, salads, peas, beans, courgettes, tomatoes, aubergines, herbs, carrots, garlic and potatoes. You won’t be disappointed!

GROWBox

GROWBox is another GIY initiative to make it dead easy for anyone to grow at home. One of the most common barriers to growing is not having a clue where to start. The Ultimate Starter GROWBox is your only man. It has 10 different seed varieties from salads right up to squash, pots and trays for sowing some of your seeds in to, customised stationary; pencil and notepad and plant labels, compost discs, seaweed fertiliser and a plain English GIY growing guide for each of the seed varieties so you know exactly what to do when. 

Windowsills

GROW COOK EAT is about getting people to enjoy growing, and mostly to EAT their produce. Growing on your windowsill makes it impossible to forget about your lettuce, herbs or chillis, you can water them while waiting for the kettle to boil and they look fabulous in a beautiful planter or pot, picked to match your style.

Raised Beds

Growing in raised beds is not only easier on the back but it can help mark out the growing space in your garden from the recreational space. Raised beds are a structural addition to a garden, patio or deck so can be used a bit like furniture or architecture. They can be built in any shape you like, you can add seating or lighting and they can be painted any colour you like! The TV Garden raised beds for GROW COOK EAT match the fences in a sophisticated slate grey colour. Painted tins and trellises add pops of colour and are practical for vertical growing, and the birdhouses are just for fun.