Photo by LORETTA JACKSON Brenda Frye displays her patented system, Twice the Roots, a method for growing seeds and cuttings using a wick and a porous cup into which some sterile soil is added before the wick is submerged into water and a seed is added to the soil. Units are available at Amherst Garden Center on Route 101 or online: twicetheroots.com.

Brenda Frye, founder of Twice the Roots growing system, received a patent on her design within three months and celebrated the success that came from her desire to avoid making a mess.

Frye, a retired teacher and resident of Hollis, always had an interest in raising plants. She is a master gardener, credentialed at the University of New Hampshire. She was curious about hydroponics – growing plants in water – and did extensive research.

“The problem was that you needed pumps and water and electric cords,” Frye said. “I can’t do that indoors, especially with my wood floors.”

Her outdoors is filled with woodchucks and deer and bear. Nevertheless, she has an abundance of sun in her home and plenty of room for growing a wide variety of greenery.

“I thought that if I had some kind of wick, I could draw water up to a seed or seedling or cutting,” said Frye. “I experimented with wick sizes to see what would work the best.”

Her design consists of a plastic container about the size of drinking glass. A porous cup holds a small bag of sterile potting soil. The wick that is included for shipping dangles from the cup. When the soil is placed in the cup and the wick is submerged into water, the wick conducts the water to the plant.

“I have product in California and Oregon and New England,” said Frye. “It’s the wick that is the trick, as you can say goodbye to the hoses and electric cords and all that stuff.”

Amherst Garden Center on Route 101 currently stocks around a dozen units of Twice the Roots. Proprietor John Cochran said the product is one that plant people should know about and cherish.

“It’s a great product,” Cochran said. “It works, it’s proven and it’s invented by a local who knows gardening.”

Frye said the system is simple. The roots of a plant will follow the wick down into the water. Upon opening the shipped unit, add water to container. Pour soil into the filter cup. Plant seed. The bowl and wick should be kept wet. Water occasionally. Gently lift out the plant and its wick to transplant.

“It’s so convenient,” said Frye. “You don’t have to think about it, so you can put a seed in this thing and ignore it for three weeks.”

Her home is lush with plants. Her grandmother’s Christmas cactus branches out a few feet from the center of the pot.

“That Christmas cactus will get fat pink blossoms for three months,” Frye said. “I have babies all over the place that were started with Twice the Roots.”

A curtain of grape ivy cascades over a second-floor railing. Purple violets nestle within ceramic pots. The cup housing the Twice the Roots system fits nicely into many decorative vessels.

She lifts a Twice the Roots container out of a blue ceramic pot. A kalanchoe sprout is rooting with gusto. The roots and the wick dangle into water that will sustain it until Frye transplants it, wick and all.

Frye notes another benefit of her Twice the Roots system. She said that roots started in water suffer a setback of up to four weeks when transplanted into soil. The root hairs are forming as the plant “just sits there.”

“Twice the Roots mediates this problem, as its root system encourages growth in both soil and water, creating a less stressful transplanting,” Frye said. “In New England, we can’t afford a month’s delay.”

Information on Twice the Roots can be had online: twicetheroots.com.