by Rebecca Tute | Mar 24, 2014 | Wildlife
Inspired by a photo of a homemade bird bath I’d seen on Pinterest a while ago, I decided to put the pile of bricks at the side of my house to good use and make one myself!
We’re trying to be much more mindful of wildlife in our garden (I often refer to it as a wildlife garden, when in fact it’s just a bit untidy…) and this was the perfect project. It also had the added bonus of making me clear out a load of bits and bobs we’d kept hold of ‘just in case they come in handy’.
I started off by digging a small trench where the first layer of bricks was going to go. Our garden slopes a lot, so we chose the flattest, sturdiest spot, which also happens to be next to the buddleja that self-seeded from a neighbour’s garden and attracts dozens of bees and butterflies every year. After getting the first layer as level as I could, I set my daughter the task of choosing the best bricks in the pile – some were starting to crumble, some had lumps of mortar stuck to them – and giving them a quick brush. 8 layers later, it was ready for the bird bath to be added. My daughter put some pebbles into the bath itself for bees to land on – we’d read that bees are thirsty little creatures, but either need very shallow water or somewhere to land.
It was really easy – it probably took us half an hour or so to make, so it’s the perfect project to do with children. Interesting and different enough for them to want to be involved, but not so difficult or time-consuming that they get bored.
We’re really pleased with the finished result, even though it is a tiny bit wonky. It goes very nicely in our ‘rough and ready’ garden, now all we’ve got to do is wait for the birds and bees. It could take a couple of weeks for worker bees to find it, so we’ll just have to be patient!
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Rebecca Tute | Mar 18, 2014 | Your Stories
In his first blog post for Thompson & Morgan, gardener Richard Laker writes about the challenges of gardening on a budget…
My name is Richard Laker, I am (just) the better side of 30. I live on the North Essex coastline and this is the start of my second full year gardening at this house.
I should probably explain that I have a wife and two children, two dogs and a cat, all of whom (apart from the wife) throw unexpected challenges on my gardening aspirations and also require feeding, which sadly leaves less than desired money to spend on the next project.
View from the back door
When we moved in, in late August 2012 I was recovering from complications following surgery and couldn’t wait to start getting the garden in a happier and healthier state, but in the process it has received many ‘tweaks’ which has kept me busy.
The damaged fence
Last year was a challenging one as we got our first family dog, a working welsh sheepdog puppy, called Kiyo, which soon taught me that things were going to have to change if I ever wanted to see a full plant life cycle ever again.
Kiyo
Being on a very tight budget requires a lot of improvisation when different challenges arise. Stopping Kiyo from eating the various garden plants and shrubs that are poisonous to dogs and running through the different beds was one of them.
I started to try to dog-proof the garden by raising the flower beds on the patio section, for which I needed a cheap and effective boundary that I could try and train him from jumping on. I thought about and priced up a number of ideas to raise the beds but my finances couldn’t stretch as far as I had hoped, so I improvised. This time it was with some bricks left over from a neighbour’s building work. I literally dug a five inch trench alongside the path and plonked the brinks on their edges and started to fill the borders with a mixture of compost and well rotted manure. It mightn’t be as aesthetically pleasing as it could’ve been but it was a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly way of sorting the problem. Luckily Kiyo was a very quick learner and learnt that past the bricks was off limits!
My 1st place T&M award winning Begonia ‘Inferno’ hanging basket and my stunning Tree Lilly ‘Yellow Rocket’
I then decided that I needed to separate the garden in half: dog end and dog-free end. I started to divide the two ends of the garden with old pieces of wooden slats that were laying around (from my son’s bed) and made an awful attempt at a picket fence.
First fence attempt!
It did the job for a couple of weeks before Kiyo realised that, if he ran at it fast enough, it would collapse. The next idea I had was to try something I hadn’t done before and that was to set three fence posts into the ground and fit 6X6 trellis panels to securely cordon off the two areas. First I wanted to move the existing garden path from the edge of the garden to the centre which would help me fit the posts to provide most support to the panels. I was in the planning stages when I was given a large black gate which, coincidentally, was the exact size for the gaps in the trellis panels and this is the semi-finished result.
Nearly finished…
The summer continued to present more troubles but I hope to explain more in my next blog.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Rebecca Tute | Mar 4, 2014 | Customer Trial Panel
Customer trial panel member Caroline Broome has had a busy weekend, getting ready for spring.
At last we have had a fine weekend and I’ve been making the most of it in spades, literally! Everything is coming into leaf, notably tree peony Hong Xia, and some plants like bog sage never died down. How timely was our decision to get rid of our lawn last autumn in favour of Indian stone – it’s so much easier to access the borders now. A near neighbour’s massive ash tree, which has overshadowed our garden for years, has been hard pruned by half so I’m dying to see how much more sun we will get here. The spring spruce up begins!
Tree peony Hong Xia
Having compiled a ‘Things To Do’ list I went completely off plan by cutting back the clematis Montana by half! I know that it’s officially the wrong time to prune this clematis but it was smothering everything in its wake. Then I hard pruned the neighbouring choisya. Everything in that corner of the garden looks strangely bare, but a lot brighter.
Next I dug up congested patches of symphytum, white phlox and acanthus to make room for my new T&M trial plants: Wallflower Perfumed Collection & Digitalis Leopardskin plugs, which were overwintered in 9cm pots, now have healthy root systems poking through the bottom of their pots. Also ready for transplanting are barerooted brunnera ‘Starry Eyes’ which have been storming away in their temporary greenhouse holding beds. Can’t wait for the soil to dry out a bit so that I can plant them out. I can’t bear to throw away any potential plants so every time I lift perennials I end up with loads of divisions, which I pot up for sale at my NGS Open Day. It’s only February and I can’t move in the greenhouse for plants. Some of the plants from last autumn that died back naturally over winter are totally unidentifiable, so it’s a case of wait and see.
Digitalis and wallflowers
I planted Freesia ‘Patio Perfection’ bulbs into terracotta patio pots, but the Trumpet Lily Collection has been planted into plastic pots for sinking into the borders later. Daffodil Rainbow Butterflies Mixed is promising to put on a magnificent display; I planted dozens so I’m anticipating a show stopping display outside our sun room doors.
Daffodils and Jitterbug, the annoyed cat!
It’s a case of hope over experience with me when it comes to seed sowing, but always the optimist I have sown my Courgette Defender seeds already, along with some ‘Boogie’ peas and sweet peas ‘Old Spice Mixed’ for the allotment. Probably not my most sensible decision was to plant out the Charlotte and Maris Piper potatoes, but they were chitted and raring to go; so now I am glued to the weather forecast, fleece in hand, in case of impending frost.
A friend made a beautiful raised wooden and aluminium herb planter for our Christmas present, which has been filled with perennial herbs like sage, thyme, chives and rosemary, and I have sown purple basil and coriander to fill in the gaps in summer.
Iris reticulata in its 3rd year
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Rebecca Tute | Feb 26, 2014 | Gardening News
During November and December 2013 and January 2014, staff at Thompson & Morgan took part in the EACH £50 challenge – and raised over £1000!
Julie Rush receives a £50 note from Vanessa Bell, Suffolk Fundraiser for EACH
The challenge itself was to turn £50 into as much money for the EACH charity in 3 months. Thompson & Morgan was presented with a £50 note in November and had until 31st January 2014 to raise as much cash as possible. East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices supports children and young people with life-threatening conditions and their families.
A fundraising committee was swiftly set up and the team got to work on ideas. A couple of brainstorming and planning sessions later, and the events were ready to be organised – school dinners, silent auction, cosy day, furniture sale, and a soup and cake day.
The school dinners day was a real success – committee members made chilli con carne and fruit crumble with custard. It was cold and wet outside and a hot dinner was just what everyone needed!
On ‘Cosy Day’, staff were able to come to work in their onesies and slippers for a donation to the fundraising effort. They were treated to luxurious hot chocolate too!
Luxury hot chocolate and cakes for Cosy Day
The ‘TM-Bay’ silent auction had some great items, including hotel stays, golf lesssons, signed books by Alan Titchmarsh, Christine Walkden and Vanessa Kimbell, a bespoke stained-glass mirror, cinema tickets and even film cells from The Lord of the Rings. This event alone raised over £400!
We’ve got some very skilled bakers at Thompson & Morgan and, once again, they turned their hands to whipping up some amazing cakes for the Soup and Cake day, the last fundraising event for the £50 challenge. The team served minestrone, leek and potato and vegetable soup and the cakes included the incredibly popular malteser bake…
20 companies and groups in East Anglia took part in the winter challenge (there’s another one in spring, starting in April) and raised a total of £8,481.27 for EACH! We’ve also just found out that Thompson & Morgan is in 3rd position on the leaderboard!
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
by Rebecca Tute | Feb 24, 2014 | Flowers
The RHS conducted a survey in spring 2013, in which it asked its members for their favourite scented plants.
Traditional flowers such as sweet peas, hyacinths and honeysuckle topped the list, which consisted mainly of spring-flowering plants. We’ve selected one of our own best-selling plants from each of the top 12 scented plants.
Sweet pea
No garden should be without sweet peas. Their fragrance fills the air and the more flowers you cut, the more will grow. They’re great for ground cover or grown against walls, fences and trellises. A simple bouquet of sweet pea blooms on a windowsill or table just can’t be beaten. Sweet pea seeds should be sown either indoors in October, which produces much stronger plants, or outdoors in March and April. If you’re buying them as plug plants you’ll need somewhere to grow them on before planting them out. Sweet Pea ‘Scent Infusion’ is a real favourite with our customers.
Hyacinth
With their unmistakeable scent and beautiful blooms, hyacinths give a stunning spring display both in the border and in pots on the patio. They make great cut flowers too. Try ‘Breeder’s Selection’ – an exclusive mix that you can’t buy anywhere else, with shorter stems and densely packed with colour-rich flowers.
Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle comes in many shapes and sizes, from the well-known fragrant varieties to the more unusual ‘trumpet’ honeysuckle. ‘Dropmore Scarlet’ is one such variety and, while it is unscented, the striking fiery-red blooms and blue-green foliage more than make up for it. This vigorous climber flowers from June to September and is perfect for covering walls, fences and unsightly garden features.
Daphne
The highly sought-after Daphne is a hardy evergreen shrub with deeply fragrant, pale pink flowers that open around Christmas. They’re a real treat at a time when the garden is usually a bit on the dull side! Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ is a slow-growing shrub that’s perfect for growing in large containers in a sunny or semi-shaded spot in the garden. These highly scented shrubs will grow just as happily in the border too.
Narcissus
Narcissus, or daffodils, are a sure sign that spring is well on its way. There are many varieties available, from the traditional bright yellow daffs t0 pink, cream, bicoloured, double and single varieties – the choice is amazing! But for real impact, narcissus ‘Replete’ takes some beating – the sumptuous double flowers open into peachy-pink ruffles up to 10cm (4in) across. Easy to grow and perfect in borders, rockeries, containers or naturalised in grass.
Lilac
Most lilac varieties flower for a few weeks, but by growing ‘Bloomerang’, you’ll have flowers for months! This dwarf lilac fits into most gardens without being overbearing and blooms from spring to summer and again from late summer to the first frosts. Butterflies love it too and it even makes a great cut flower.
Viburnum
Viburnum ‘Dawn’ is a winter-flowering, deciduous shrub that produces masses of dark pink blooms with a rich fragrance. The flowers fade to white before producing berries in the summer. Autumn brings a change in foliage colour to bright orange and yellow, before the flowers appear in winter again. It’s easy to grow and care for and is a perfect plant for a prominent border, where it’ll be a talking point all year round. Browse our full range of viburnum shrubs here.
Lily
With their heady fragrance and impressive blooms, lilies are a great feature in both the border and cut flower arrangements. The Trumpet Tree Lily produces huge white trumpet blooms with lime green throats that have an alluring freesia-like scent.
Jasmine
Jasmine plants are known for their richly perfumed flowers and the variety ‘Revolutum’ is no exception. The bright yellow flowers are on show from May to August and really stand out against the semi-evergreen foliage. Planting it in a sunny spot intensifies the fragrance.
Wallflowers
Wallflowers are just about the perfect plant! Versatile and undemanding, they’ll thrive even in the poorest of soils and bloom in the spring. Wallflower ‘Sugar Rush’, winner in the ‘Best New Bedding Plant’ category at the Grower of the Year Awards 2013, flowers twice – in spring and again in autumn, when most of the garden in dormant and giving a welcome display of fragrant blooms.
Rose
Roses need very little introduction in terms of scent and ‘Lady Marmalade’ is one of our favourites. Awarded ‘Rose of the Year 2014’, the vintage, cabbage-shaped blooms have a deliciously sweet scent, but that’s where any relation to the past stops – these scented plants have the disease resistance of modern roses.
Lily of the valley
Perfect for springtime posies, lily of the valley fills the air with its sweet fragrance. Plant the ‘pips’ out in spring and, once the plants are established, you’ll be rewarded with a low-maintenance plant that gives wonderful ground cover in woodland gardens and damp, shady areas.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
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