Monday 18th May 2009
Offering something for everyone with a beautiful setting, hundreds of plant displays, stunning gardens, shopping in abundance, demonstrations, advice and fun activities this show is a must for all the family.
Along with more than 700 exhibitors, Marshalls will be presenting new and imaginative gardening ideas on how you can grow your own, as their major plot to plate Growing Tastes feature makes a return after its debut last year.
2009 marks the 20th anniversary of Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and now more than ever, the nation is hungry to grow their own fruit and vegetables, for better taste, and healthier living, saving money and food miles into the bargain!
"We are seeing a wider range of people starting to grow their own. Vegetable growing is no longer the preserve of the garden expert and allotment growers. Anyone can grow veg, from pots on decking or a patio, to hanging baskets! Salads even sown as late as August will rapidly produce a lovely mix of leaves to cut and come again." Says Martin Harvey, Marshalls Seeds MD.
"We hope we can achieve another medal this year with our stand showcasing a range of oriental vegetables, cut and come again salads and soft fruits".
To demonstrate just how flexible vegetable gardening can be, there will be a patio area with containers featuring a selection of vegetables growing in pots, together with some blueberry bushes and other soft fruit.
This year Marshalls will be offering a special show seeds collection for sale at money-saving prices, comprising of 5 salad varieties and 5 oriental vegetables.
Varieties comprise of:
Lettuce Dazzle
If you know Little Gem - crisp, crunchy and just enough for one serving for the smaller family, then this red 'gem' is a great partner.
It's a really gorgeous lettuce! Same size, same flavour, same texture, but a colour that will add a real sparkle to your salads, especially in early summer, before your tomatoes have ripened.
Just like Little Gem you can realistically expect a quick growing crop for an early harvest.
Rocket Oakley
Quick cropping, these ornamental peppery leaves are an essential salad ingredient, or delicious on their own. Suitable for container growing, successional sowing will keep you going almost all year round!
Mustard Red Zest
The red colouring is maintained in warmer periods and intensifies in autumn. Slower to bolt and suitable for summer sowing, the slightly savoyed leaves are very attractive and have a mild mustard flavour.
Use for cut and come again salads and stir-fries - particularly good with noodles, steak and seafood dishes.
Spicy Greens Mix
Give your taste-buds an extra bit of zizz! Marshalls spicy blend of oriental baby leaves contains a mix of both mustards and rockets, for a cut and come again salad. These piquant leaves are perfect for stir-fry dishes too. You could be cutting the first fresh young leaves in 3-4 weeks!
Radish Purple Plum
This Radish has a bright purple skin and firm white flesh. It is hardy and stays crisp with a sweet but spicy flavour. A special addition to the salad bowl or for simply eating on their own.
Really fast growing, in the warm summer months you can be enjoying these six weeks after sowing. Good looking and tasty, try some in pots!
Spring Onion Guardsman
The standard spring onion variety. Guardsman holds in good condition and is winter hardy.
You will be able to pull bunches of fine bulb-free stems over several weeks from one sowing.
Wa Wa Sai
A tender baby Chinese Cabbage that can be grown closely spaced. Use as baby leaves for crunchy salads or allow to grow on to form succulent hearts for super stir-fries.
Pak Choi Ruby Shine
Is as beautiful as it is tasty! It can be grown as a mature plant for stir-fries and steaming but is also ideal for baby leaf harvest.
Pak Choi Ivory
This slow bolting variety has dark green leaves and succulent white stems that can be harvested from the 'baby' stage onwards. Very versatile - try it in salads, stir-fry dishes, steamed as a vegetable or gently braised.
Shungiku
This edible Japanese chrysanthemum (chop suey greens) is a great addition to your salad bowl or stir-fry.
The leaf is fine, and it doesn't flower too quickly (although even the flowers are edible!). It has a sweet but peppery, slightly fragrant flavour, perfect to add to stir- fries right at the last minute so it is just barely wilted.
A series of raised beds will be planted up with these varieties at various stages of growth to illustrate how quick growing they are, and showing how they can easily be intercropped between other plants.
Soft Fruit
There will be a fruit cage with a selection of soft fruit bushes such as raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries, plus a smaller fruit cage over a raised bed of strawberries.
Packs of 6 Marshmello main season strawberry plants, one of the best varieties for the home gardener, and potted single stem blackberry bushes will also be for sale.
Notes to journalists:
Journalists, photographers and broadcasters are invited to the stand GT12 where Marshalls will have technical staff and senior managers on hand throughout Monday to provide information on Marshalls products.
For images or more information contact -
Claire Hart
Tel - 01460 259776
Mobile - 07825 077791
Email - Claire.hart@marshalls-seeds.co.uk
