Friends of the Yard: Lucy Hutchings on Growing Beauty and Purpose at She Grows Veg
If you’ve ever scrolled through a feed filled with ornamental kale, rainbow chard, and vegetables that look like they’ve stepped off a fashion runway, chances are you’ve stumbled upon the vibrant world of She Grows Veg. Lucy Hutchings along with Kate Cotterill, the creative minds behind the movement, are making big waves in the gardening world, not just for their lush, edible displays, but for how she’s helping to redefine what a productive garden can look like.
We caught up with Lucy to talk about her journey, her mission, and what’s next for the woman who believes growing food should be as joyful as it is nourishing.
From Fashion Design to Grow Your Own Disrupter
Lucy didn’t always have her hands in the soil. A former jewellery designer (for the stars), in 2014 Lucy fell down the gardening rabbit hole, researching forgotten and heirloom varieties and boy are we glad she did.
Recognising there was a gap in the market for those of us who didn't want to grow the 'conventional' varieties, she took to Instragram to build her own hortiworld community away from the restraints and do's and don'ts of growing that she was being met with.
“I wanted to prove that edible gardens can be just as visually exciting as ornamental ones,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be green to be edible, growing vegetables can be bold, structured, beautiful.”
And bold it certainly is. The heirloom seeds sourced from around the world, are known for their intense colours, intriguing shapes and incredible flavour. It’s edible meets ornamental, edimental and it’s taking the gardening world by storm.
The Edible Aesthetic For Your Pots
Part of Lucy’s mission is to change perceptions, to show people that you don’t need a massive garden or expert skills to grow your own food beautifully.
“You can grow pretty much anything in a pot,” she explains. “But my favourite would have been the tomato. They perform fantastically well in pots and can really capture your imagination with the most magical colours, sizes and shapes." Lucy also shared a top tip with us and that's that you can freeze whole tomatoes as they there. no fancy prep, just bung them in a container into the freezer and add to you meals when needed.
Her advice? Start with what you love to eat. “Only grow what you like. Learn to grow one thing at a time and don't overwhelm yourself.”
She’s a big advocate for growing in containers, and grows in containers at the She Grows Veg trial garden as well as creating a network of 30 trial growers around the UK, a lot who grow in pots at home. “It’s about making better use of space and showing people that beauty and productivity can go hand in hand.”
Edible Ornamentals
There are so many ornamental plants that are edible, that lots of people just don't realise and you can swap our or introduce these varieties to make your garden productive. Dahlia's were originally imported as a food crop and are edible, just remove a tuber or two to eat and store the rest for next year.
Grow Artichokes over cardoons and Actual edible rhubarb over ornamental rhubarb.
Varieties that look stunning interplanted in your garden are pink peppermint chard, the colours really pop amongst the flowers and can thrive through Winter so always an opportunity to add to your dishes.
Another hero to plant around your garden is red orach, this is becoming increasingly popular amongst Chelsea gardens for it's beauty but you can eat this like spinach and in this heat is perfect as it doesn't bolt.
Showcasing at Chelsea and Beyond
Lucy’s and Kates passion to elevate vegetables in the horticultural world has seen them exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the past two years, where She Grows Veg has turned heads with edible installations that looked more like couture and works of art. The companies recent exhibit put pots at the forefront, showcasing many delicious varieties thriving in pots, that we may have traditionally not considered possible. Everything from microgreens and peashoots in small pots to full-size toms, cucumbers and peas.
It's really important to us that everyone can grow vegetables at home so we're curating a range specifically for dwarf and micro varieties, making growing at home, in any space all the more accessible.
What’s Next for She Grows Veg?
There’s no slowing down for She Grows Veg as the team expands and they release new products like their latest subscription product which is aimed at growing with children.
We will see the return of the ever popular Advent Calendar, packed with seeds and planting inspiration, and fully compostable Christmas crackers that come with six varieties of veg inside. Knowing what the varieties are going to be, we'll definitely be putting these on the Tom's Yard Christmas table this year.
“I just want people to see how beautiful and fun growing your own can be,” she says. “Whether it’s a single tomato plant on your windowsill or a whole back garden of edible colour, it all counts.”
So there we have it, we are totally on board for swapping out our floral pot arrangements for more veggies that are beautiful and tasty!
You can find Lucy and the team at www.shegrowsveg.com and on @shegrowsveg on Instagram.
