UK giant pumpkin record beaten

1,520lb whopper wins £1,000 for Dorset farmer

UK giant pumpkin record beaten

Mark receiving his £1,000 cheque from T&M’s Sarah Curtis

Thompson & Morgan handed over a cheque for £1,000 to Dorset dairy farmer, Mark Baggs, at the annual Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Southampton last Saturday for his 1,520lb winning giant pumpkin.

Mark’s giant pumpkin beats by 16lbs the previous UK heaviest pumpkin record of 1,504lbs held by pumpkin-growing experts, Stuart and Ian Paton. Thompson & Morgan has sponsored the Autumn Pumpkin Festival since 2009, but this is the first time that a weight record has been broken.

Mark actually won the competition in 2011 with a pumpkin weighing a substantial 1,334lbs. He says that his interest in growing pumpkins began when he was at school, but it wasn’t until a visit to the UK National Giant Vegetables Championship in 2004 in Shepton Mallet that Mark became focused on the idea of growing a really large pumpkin.

UK giant pumpkin record beaten

The prize-winning 1520lb pumpkin grown by Mark Baggs of Wareham in Dorset.

The prize-winning specimen that Mark entered into this year’s festival in Southampton was grown from the seed of a German giant pumpkin weighing 1,391lbs. When asked the secret to transforming this seed into such an enormous pumpkin, Mark spoke about the help and support that he has had from the giant vegetable growing community.

‘I’ve had almost daily contact with growers in the US and elsewhere’, he says. ‘People were getting in touch via message boards and email with tips and advice. And since the weigh-in at the weekend, they’re sending congratulations’! Paul Hansord, Thompson & Morgan’s horticultural director said, ‘We’ve always enjoyed being involved in the Autumn Pumpkin Festival, so as you can imagine we’re absolutely thrilled to have found a record-breaker this year’.

Mark thanked Thompson & Morgan for its continued support of the event. Maybe he’ll be back next year with an even bigger pumpkin for his son, Jack, to sit on!

Bramley Apple Pie Week

Bramley Apple Pie Week (14th-20th October)

Bramley Apple Pie Week

Bramley apples – perfect for pies, crumbles and apple sauce

Despite the slow start to spring, fruit harvests have been surprisingly good this year. Those of you with a glut of fruit will be in the throes of jam and chutney making sessions and frantically trying to find space in the freezer for other delights.

This week is Bramley Apple Pie Week (14th-20th October) and what better way to use up some of that lovely fruit? The weather’s turning colder, the days are getting shorter and we all start thinking about comfort food. So grab your rolling pin and bake yourself an apple pie!

There are hundreds of recipes available online and pastry is very easy to prepare. If you can’t face making your own pastry, the ready-to-roll stuff you can buy in the shops is a good enough substitute. There’s no need to pre-cook Bramley apples for pies or crumbles, simply peel and slice the appples and cover them with your topping; there’s enough moisture in the fruit to soften it while it’s cooking.

[divider]

Bramley Apple Pie Week

Apple pie – how do you eat yours?

Opinion is divided when it comes to the perfect accompaniment to apple pie – custard, cream or ice cream? We had a quick poll in the office to find out the favourite and the clear winner was custard! What’s your favourite way to eat apple pie?

Grow your own ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ apple tree! They can be grown in the garden or on the patio, but do check that there’s another apple tree nearby to pollinate yours.

[divider]

A few Bramley facts…

  • Bramley apples have been around for over 200 years
  • Mary Ann Brailsford, a young girl from Nottinghamshire, unwittingly grew the first ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ tree when she planted some pips in her garden in 1809
  • In 1846 Matthew Bramley, the local butcher, bought the cottage and garden. A few years later, a local nurseryman asked permission to take cuttings from the tree to sell. Mr Bramley agreed, but insisted that the apples should bear his name
  • The original Bramley tree is still producing fruit, despite being blown down by, but surviving, a violent storm in 1900.
Bramley Apple Pie Week

The original Bramley apple tree

How to grow TomTato®

How to successfully grow your TomTato® plants

How to grow TomTato™

We’ve had an amazing amount of interest in our TomTato® plants and news of the new innovation has spread throughout the world!

TomTato® is available to buy from the Thompson & Morgan website, but only to customers in the UK and only as plants. To help you get the best results from your TomTato® plants, we’ve put together a few FAQs with some top advice from our horticultural experts. We recommend bookmarking this page so that you can find it easily when your plants have been delivered.

  1. Are they resistant to blight?
    TomTato® plants have good tolerance to blight. In the last few years of trials, none of the plants in our nursery were affected by blight.
  2. How do I dig up the potatoes without destroying the tomato plant?
    The tomatoes will have finished their harvest period by the time the potatoes are ready to lift. This begins in August and goes through to late September.
  3. Are the potatoes a maincrop or a late variety?
    The potatoes in TomTato® are a late variety. We chose this variety specifically so that the tomatoes are ready to harvest first, allowing you to harvest the two crops independently of each other.How to grow TomTato™
  4. What type of plant feed should I use?
    We recommend using Chempak® Soluble Tomato Food.
  5. Which compost is best?
    Any general multipurpose type will be fine for growing TomTato®.
  6. How deep should I plant them?
    Plant them deep enough to cover the graft point on the plant stem. As the potatoes begin to form, top up the container with soil or earth up the plants if you’re growing them in open ground to stop the potatoes being exposed to sunlight and turning green.
  7. Is the tomato a bush or cordon variety?
    This particular tomato is a cordon variety that grows very quickly. You’ll need to tie the shoots to their support on a regular basis. Removing side shoots each week will also help to keep the plant healthy.
  8. How many potatoes will each plant grow?
    You’ll get approximately 15-20 potatoes from each plant, which is about 2kg.
  9. What about watering? Tomatoes need a lot, but potatoes don’t.
    As tomatoes are very thirsty during the main season (July and August) this will not be a problem – the main thing is not to overwater in the early stages before the tomatoes set fruit. Potatoes usually only suffer if they are developing in the bottom of a damp planter. With the TomTato® plants the potatoes set nearer to the middle and top layer of compost, from where the water will naturally drain.

New Christmas gifts range now online

Our new Christmas gifts range is now online!

New Christmas gifts range now online

Rose ‘Infinity’

We’ve given our Christmas gifts website a revamp and now you’ll find a wide range of gifts at www.thompson-morgan.com/gifts-for-christmas

Each gift is beautifully presented and packed by hand to arrive fresh and perfect. With over 40 gifts under £20, there’s something for every budget. Not only that, but all the lovely bulbs featured can be planted into the garden after flowering indoors to extend this season of giving.

And what’s more, you can now order all your non-gift seeds and plug plants at the same time!

  • Only pay P&P once, regardless of how many gifts you send
  • Easy-care gifts – no expertise required
  • Gifts delivered direct to your family and friends
  • FREE personalised card included with every gift
  • 100% quality satisfaction guaranteed or your money back!
  • Stress-free shopping from the comfort of your home
  • Free P&P on orders over £60

Take a peek at some of our great new products…

New Christmas gifts range now online

Azalea Tree

Azalea Tree
This evergreen, double-flowered azalea has been fashioned into the shape of a Christmas tree! The Azalea Tree comes in a 15cm decorative pot and laden with ready-to-bloom buds. It’s rather unusual, but we think it’s rather lovely and sure to be a talking point. It’s also available in white.

Rose ‘Infinity’
Rose ‘Infinity’ is a true wonder – the miniature rose bush is adorned with tight buds that open into beautiful pink or white blooms over the course of 5 weeks! Each bloom boasts 80-100 petals and grow to 6cm across. It can later be planted into the garden, where it will continue to delight the senses.

[divider]

New Christmas gifts range now online

Standard Bay Tree

Standard Bay Tree
Bay trees are the perfect for those on your gift list who love practical presents – they’re both stunning in the garden and invaluable in the kitchen! These beautiful standard bay trees have been expertly shaped and are supplied as a 4-5 year old plant in a 4-litre pot.

 

 

 

Gardening news – sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

In this week’s gardening news we bring you an update on sparrows, winter bedding and a recent legionella outbreak…

Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Sparrow populations helped by untidy gardens

Sparrows helped by wild(er) gardens
Sparrow populations have stabilised after many years of decline, helped in part by less manicured gardens. Gardeners who have been leaving parts of their gardens to grow wild in a bid to help dwindling wildlife populations may have contributed halting the decline of sparrows, according to the results of a British survey.

[divider]

Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Legionella cases linked to compost

Legionnaires’ disease outbreak linked to compost
A recent outbreak of Legionella longbeachae in Scotland has been linked to compost, prompting health experts to recommend that warning labels are put on bags of compost. While the risk of contracting the disease remains low, gardeners are advised to wear gloves when handling compost, not to breathe in the dust and to wash their hands immediately after use.

[divider]

Gardening news - sparrows, winter bedding, legionella outbreak

Winter bedding plants give a much-needed splash of colour

Autumn clean-up and winter planting schemes
As summer comes to an end and the autumn clean-up begins in earnest, it’s the perfect time to be thinking about winter planting schemes. Overcome the dull, cold days by adding a welcome splash of colour to your garden with winter bedding plants such as pansies, violas, wallflowers, stocks and forget-me-nots.

Pin It on Pinterest