IT Sligo Creative Design Lecturer, Dave Roberts starred on the first episode of the new series of Dragon’s Den on RTE one with a business idea that grew from his design of a flat pack home gardening system.
The novel design enables gardening enthusiasts to erect raised garden beds that can sit on any surface, in a matter of minutes.
Dave Roberts and his business partner Martin Hendricken, caught the attention of two of the Dragons, Sean Gallagher and Bobby Kerr, and successfully secured an investment for their business, Flat Pack Garden Solutions Limited.
A lecturer at IT Sligo for more than 25 years, Dave Roberts is a keen gardener and he designed the Grow Rings to make gardening more accessible; “There is a lack of available growing space in many small urban gardens and what soil is available is often of poor quality and full of rubble.
“Soil availability isn’t an issue with ‘Grow Rings’ because the compost and soil is inserted into the structure, independent of the surface. Personally, I hate having to traverse through a mucky garden to pick my vegetables, and that was one of the driving forces behind the design of the Grow Ring. They can rest on concrete, grass, or soil and work equally effectively.
“Another barrier for some people to starting their own garden beds is using tools to erect the structure in the first place. The ‘Grow Rings’ I’ve designed can be erected anywhere, with minimum fuss. It erects itself in a few seconds.”
Gardening is enjoying a resurgence at the moment and Dave and his business partner are hopeful that their design will enable more people to get growing; “50 per cent of people in Ireland aged between 25 and 45 are aspiring gardeners and for every 100 allotments in Britain, there are more than 60 people on the waiting list. There’s no doubt that there is a renewed interest in gardening and in particular in growing vegetables and herbs, and I hope that our product will open it up to an even wider audience.”
For more information on the company see www.growrings.ie
Dave Roberts demonstrates how to use a ‘Grow Ring’.