Bras, briefs and boxer shorts were donated to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show to be used in display of how to grow your own fruit and vegetables in unwanted underwear.

Bras, briefs and boxer shorts were donated to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show to be used in display of how to grow your own fruit and vegetables in unwanted underwear.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) asked visitors to Chelsea Flower Show to donate clean unwanted bras, boxer shorts and jockey pants for its summer Grow Your Own campaign.

Dozens handed in old underwear which will now be used, alongside stock contributed by Marks and Spencer, in a ‘good life’ display at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, from 7 – 12 July 2009.

“Due to their conical shape, bras are ideal containers for turning into hanging baskets, and if you sew two together, you have what is best described as a ‘hanging bra-sket’. Once filled with compost you can grow salad leaves, herbs, alpine strawberries and even tumbling cherry tomatoes in them; the bigger the bra the more you can grow. But the serious message behind the ‘bra-skets’ is that you do not need a lot of space or even a lot of money to start growing your own food – just a bit of imagination.”

The ‘good life’ display is part of a wider campaign by the RHS to encourage more people to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister and civic organisation including the National Trust have also called for more people to grow their own food in order to improve healthy eating and tackle climate change by reducing food miles.