Staff from Squire's garden centre in Crawley have been helping local schoolchildren grow plants from seeds that have been in outer space.
In September 2015, 2kg of rocket seeds were flo flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they spent several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.

Squire's donated pots and compost to Willow Tree Pre-School, who received a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they are growing alongside seeds that haven't been to space, and they will measure the differences over seven weeks.

The children won't know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians.

Said Squire's plant manager Shaun Howell: "It was great to help the children at Willow Tree Pre-School take part in the Rocket Science project. We donated pots and compost to them, and gave them some gardening advice to help them grow their rocket seeds. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching children to think more scientifically, and a great way to encourage them to get into horticulture."