It's always satisfying when a technique you use in your own garden - in this case growing in guttering - is endorsed by one of the celebrity gardeners, and that's just what's happened in the February edition of Gardener's World magazinehttp://www.gardenersworld.com/

In part 2 of her series 'Cutting Patch', Sarah Raven covers seed sowing indoors and explains how she plants Cerinthe major seeds into lengths of guttering. Once the seeds have germinated and the young plants are ready for transplanting, she simply digs out a shallow trench and slides the contents of the guttering into place. It's that easy!

I've used this method to germinate and plant - more like slide! - out the climbing pea crops in the Harrod Horticultural Kitchen Garden http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/news/Kitchen+Garden/Kitchen+Garden+21.htm with great success. I've got 4 lengths of standard black guttering, each 2m long, into which the pea seeds are sown, and the results, as you can see, are amazing! I've deliberately used the guttering quantities above as I can slide the young pea plants directly into position alongside the pea and bean frame we design and manufacture http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/search/product/Garden+Netting%5FPlant+Support+Netting/GDN-387.htm

And the advantages of using this method? No threat of mice digging up the seeds; no birds eating the new leaves and a bit of extra warmth - just what the peas need!