Lucas Hatch with his runner bean crops

11-year old Lucas Hatch from Woodbridge in Suffolk first got into gardening 4 years ago after writing to Thompson & Morgan asking for a donation of seeds for his primary school.

This year he won the RHS Young School Gardener of the Year 2012 after wowing the judges with his “flair, enthusiasm and knowledge of gardening.”

Lucas was one of four entrants given a digital camera to make a short film showing why he’s such a good gardener. Having watched the film ourselves, we too were impressed with his dedication, sensible approach to gardening and care for the environment and community.

He gardens every day, come rain or shine, helps his elderly neighbours with their weeding and shares gardening tips with his grandparents. He also set up a ‘composting campaign’ at his school to encourage his schoolmates to compost their waste, rather than throw it in the bin.

In the school garden itself he helped to build a willow arch for October-sown sweet peas and made his own compost tamper from a piece of plywood and an old kitchen cupboard handle.

And, as the youngest member of Thompson & Morgan’s trial panel, he’ll be testing plants in his own garden and sending us feedback and pictures to show how they fare in a normal garden setting. This is the best way of testing plants to make sure that only the best are offered in our catalogues and online.

Rebecca Tute

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.