Like most of our customers, this holiday weekend has been the first chance to have a day off and actually get outdoors to plant our VegTrug. We have been working 12-18 hours every day with the launch of the VegTrug product and the Easter weekend has been the ideal time to finally get it done. I thought it might be a nice idea, in between all these business announcements to share our personal experience of the product.

We are an average family with my 2 youngest sons aged 13 and 2 years old still at home. I am not a gardener in truth, although we had tried to create a vegetable patch for the last 3 years without much success. The initial dig is back breaking and the slugs and bugs eat what the weather doesn't damage. To be honest, each year we have tried the initial enthusiasm has waned as the results from our efforts has decreased.

I had actually never constructed a production version of the VegTrug so I opened the box and tried to put myself into a customer's shoes. The legs went together with just 6 bolts very easily. After that it was just a case of attaching the sides, ends and then the sideboards. All I needed was a philips screwdriver and an adjustable spanner. The liner fitted in place as it should with plenty of overlap to save the sides from getting dirty whilst we filled it with soil. We stood back and admired our handiwork and my first thought was, "we're selling these too cheaply"! It really is a nice looking and substantial piece of garden furniture.

I had been preparing some worm cast compost using our worm farm here and I sent the kids off to fetch a wheelbarrow load. We mixed this with a general purpose vegetable growing compost and filled the VegTrug. After that we tucked the liner back down to the level of the soil so that it looked neat and tidy, but still protected the VegTrug.

My two youngest sons had been preparing a planting diagram for the VegTrug and we then laid out the plants where they had decided they should go. We planted a mixture of seeds and seedlings into the VegTrug. Along the centre line where the VegTrug has the most depth we planted carrot and radish seeds together with spring onion seedlings alternately. After this we made a 'herb corner' with rosemary, parsley, thyme, sage and some peppers. Then the cucumber and cabbage seedlings went in. At one end of the VegTrug we planted several strawberry plants and in another corner a different variety as an experiment to see which ones would be best suited to our climate. We also planted some cherry tomato seeds and some melon seeds. It was really quite remarkable what could be fitted in. The final job was to water everything in.

As a business we have spoken to many experts about the best vegetables and planting methods for the VegTrug and we have passed this information to our customers via the website. We did try to follow the instructions as far as possible. We also made sure that we planted some quick growing crops as well as some medium to long term vegetables to ensure that the kids (and our) enthusiasm continued throughout the season. It will also mean that we can maximise the amount of produce we get from the VegTrug.

In many ways we are a typical potential customer for the VegTrug. We have kept our own chickens for many years for fresh eggs and now the kids are looking forward to sampling their first produce from the VegTrug. For the first time my kids are excited about the prospect of eating vegetables!

All in all, it was fun, easy and the kids loved being involved. Louis who is just 2 was on a stool helping me to plant the seedlings. What better way for him to learn where his food comes from? There was no back breaking work and it was clean and simple. The added advantage is that it is a great talking point and a nice piece of garden furniture as well.










I know I am biased so please forgive me, but this is gardening as it should be. We do not all have the time, enthusiasm or land to grow our own vegetables. For me, the last 6 months has been a blur of product launches, exhibitions, press releases and distributor signings as well as working our socks of to make sure that the logistics of getting the VegTrug to market smoothly have been put in place.

This weekend was a really nice way for me to remind myself of what the VegTrug is about and why we made it. It will enable anybody, even with no previous gardening experience, within the smallest of spaces to grow their own vegetables successfully. It does exactly that and it does it brilliantly.

If you haven't bought your VegTrug yet, go to www.VegTrug.Com for your nearest stockist.