Couture jewellery designer turned gardening influencer, Lucy Hutchings, better known as She Grows Veg on Instagram, can now add horticultural author to her list of successes, with the launch of her first book, ‘Get Up & Grow’, which is now available for pre-order ahead of its April release.

Once recognised as one of the rising stars of the fashion industry, designing jewellery for the likes of Cheryl Cole, Kylie Minogue and Rihanna under her eponymous  label, Lucy realised in 2018 that her true passion lay with gardening. She retrained in horticulture and garden design, and set up an Instagram account to track her progress. She soon became an Instagram sensation – gaining a global following of more than 100,000 followers in less than two years.

Published by Hardie Grant, ‘Get Up & Grow’ uses Lucy’s background as a designer to illustrate how inspiring growing your own food can be, and is the next step in her successful career change.

Lucy believes that growing food can be both beautiful and bountiful, and has turned her designer’s eye on the world of ‘grow your own’ to offer a range of projects for all skill levels and spaces. Over the course of the 19 herb, vegetable and fruit growing projects for both indoors and outdoors, readers are shown the myriad diverse and beautiful ways in which food can be grown, even in small spaces.

Lucy said: “I get lots of messages from people who would like to start growing some of their own food but are confused about how to get started and are intimidated by the world of horticulture and the traditional image of way things should done. I want to remove that fear and tell people to just give it a go, and this is what I hope to achieve with my book.”

Sustainability is also a key theme in the book, as Lucy encourages people to change the way that they think about where their food comes from, with a desire to spark a fire of enthusiasm for food security and self-sufficiency.

Discussing her hopes of what people will gain from the book, Lucy said: “By the end of the book I hope readers will be bursting with ideas and inspiration to create a truly jaw-droppingly beautiful, edible home to make them happier, healthier and to feel like they are taking a step in the right direction for the planet.”

Lucy is a gardener on a mission and campaigns to make horticulture appealing to a wider audience, and to show that growing some of your food is a realistic and rewarding option for anyone no matter their experience levels or available space, inside or out. Lucy’s gorgeous edible garden and unusual heirloom produce have proved very popular with the aesthetically-conscious Instagram generation and has shown them a different side to horticulture.

Get Up & Grow is available on Amazon and all major book retailers from 29th April.

Follow Lucy via www.instagram.com/shegrowsveg, or visit her website at www.shegrowsveg.com.