Thompson & Morgan Gardening Blog

Dear Gardeners,

Well if I thought February was dramatic, March can only be described as chaotic! I wanted to celebrate St David’s day, in my childhood home of St Davids, but The Beast from the East, arrived, along with his friend storm Emma, and between them they spoiled my plans. It snowed. A lot. We hadn’t had snow like that since 2010.

Pembrokeshire had some freezing nights and on the morning of the first predicted snowstorm I had to go to a heart rehabilitation session; the temperature outside at 9:00am showed -5°c. As a result we lost many garden plants, yet, the Chindoxia, more aptly named Glory of the Snow, benefited from the cold snap; they along with crocus, daffodils, grape hyacinth,bergnia and primroses bounced back and have flowered ever since.

The snow only stuck for two days, allowing me to meet up with one of my friends who I hadn’t seen in twenty years, she managed travel from Newcastle to attend her sister’s wedding. Spurred on by photos of the bride’s simple winter wildflower bouquet, I decided that I would abandon my plans for an all blue flower show this year, and try to grow as many plants as I can, to create little posies for the elderly ladies (and gents) at heart rehab class, as well as for the nurses and staff.

So I increasing my seed sowing. In the first week I planted, Sunflower Shock-o-lat, Velvet Queen and Marigold Strawberry Blonde. Food-wise I planted Red Onion –Red Baron, Classic Mint and Beetroot RaInbow Mix. These were all put in single cell propagators in “The Office.”

A week later, I moved my trial tomatoes (from the kitchen window) into the greenhouse along with the Yellow Stuffer ones. The latter being in the Heated Propagator after my Gardeners’ Delight failed. They failed as I used an ancient packet of seeds from Woolworths…Mark helped me sort out the greenhouses as the Cornflowers Black Ball, and Larkspurs needed transferring to the cold-frame for hardening off. He also dug poppies out of the borders of Ty Mawr and transplant them into a large pot on the patio.

T&M’s Coleus Canina (Scaredy Cat) plugs arrived a few days later, and I inadvertently picked the warmest day to pot them on. I wish I hadn’t! They had been confined for posting and with the heat through glass, the oils were particularly potent. I managed to transplant three quarters of them, but my eyes were stinging as was my nose. Never mind cats, the plants had already scared me. I got the others done the following day.

And then it snowed again. Luckily it was a dusting that only lasted twenty-four hours. In the third week I soaked sweetpea Turquoise Lagoon seeds overnight, then planted them the following day. By the Friday the Beetroot seedlings had grown in their makeshift propagator they needed thinning out and repotting.

As the photos show, a lot of my seeds are in recycled fruit boxes. I am choosing to grow them in these to

• a) reduce my plastic waste,
• b) save money as I still can’t return to work, which means that I cannot afford to spend as much as I used to on my hobby,
• c) I have run out of single cell seed propagators and
• d) because I want to show others that you don’t always need fancy equipment to grow things in.

I’ll be honest though I wasn’t sure if it would work, but evidently it does.

Last Monday I transplanted Cape Gooseberries, and Meconopsis Grande seedlings from the Heated Propagator into individual pots. In their place I have started a completely unscientific aubergine seed trial using Patio Mix seeds and Celine seeds, from three different companies

including T&M. I planted up the bright red fire bucket of chillies that my youngest brother gave me for Christmas. This is in addition to the chillies I set off last month. I had to abandon the Venidiums, Welsh Poppies and Echinacea as the compost went green and grew mossy. The contents were sprinkled in the hollyhock border, so perhaps they will grow there. That border hardly ever gets weeded as its a second wildflower border intercepted by dozens of hollyhocks, a Gogi and Tay Berry – both of which have never fruited. Plus there’s a Chinese Lantern shrub my other brother gave me. Also present are flowering daffodils and tulips.

Then add the daisies, buttercups and dandelions which are NOT weeds, but food for early pollinators. That afternoon I sowed some Radish, as well as more Hyssop as sadly ours died off. I am not sure if it was down to last year’s wet summer, the neighbours cats using our garden as a toilet or just that they were not big enough to go in the ground, even though they had outgrown the pots. Next I accidentally sowed a whole packet Buddleja, Reason being I still have chemo fingers and I can’t feel things properly, I was trying to open the seed packet with my fingers, As my hands were tired I didn’t feel the packet rip until it flew out of them and scattered 75 (on average, the label says,) seeds onto a waiting tub of compost. There was absolutely no point in me even trying to pick them out, my fingers were refusing to even pick up the packet. I was impressed that the seeds had gone in the tub though. I was going to plant some Lupins but didn’t remember I was supposed to soak them overnight so they will be done after Easter.Tuesday afternoon I sowed some Corriander, some French Marigolds, and Borage. I loved the marigolds last year and am thinking I really need to get some African Marigolds to add to my English and French display. Maybe I can have some instead of an Easter Egg. Hint, hint!

Finally the last thing I did in The Office was to transplant some sweet pepper seedlings from a pot in the kitchen that had the supermarket experimental seeds in. However, they didn’t grow,(the mini sweet peppers I got them from may be F1 hybrids) so I sowed some Orange Sweet pepper seeds that I had from a magazine last year. Only I think that the original seeds have now germinated as there are more peppers than there should be in the pot. So another totally unscientific experiment is taking place – lets see if I can spot the difference between two different types of peppers before they go in Ty Mawr or produce fruit.

I hope to continue sowing more seeds in April, my brother (youngest) gave me a funky veg kit, and I’m intrigued by its contents. There are six types of seeds including purple carrots. So The Office has many seeds, and baby plants It, as well as the things that have been overwintering. Foxgloves, primula, cornflowers, pot marigold, larkspur, Christmas Cacti, and lavender to name a few. Snow Princess marigolds are now in a wall planter outside. The Beast from the East destroyed the border in The Office, the subzero temperatures killed my money tree. There is a tiny bit left that I am hoping will regrow. It also killed one of the flowering house plants that was there too. I may put the Hibiscus that T&M gave me for Christmas in the border, as the pot sits atop it, but for now Mark added violas and a cornflower. The hibiscus got sunburnt on the top staging so it’s top leaves are pale and slightly crispy. I spotted the problem a bit late and now wondering where I can put it as its too big for the bungalow and won’t survive the westerly salty winds outside.

In Ty Mawr, I have marigolds starting to flower, cornflowers, shooting up, turnips that are growing by the day, and six grow bags of potatoes, that Mark had to constantly either has to earth up or water. The Vizella were slow to start off and I thought the weather had killed them, but as they are lates, I should have been more patient in expecting growth. The Maris Piper (second early) on the other hand have been strong from the start. I usually grow Charlotte’s but wanted a change this year.

The dahlias that are still wrapped in newspaper survived, being on the hanging shelves, but the baby money trees did not, neither did the cycleman or heather. My dad’s spider plant suffered badly, apart from two leaves, the rest was brown. I’ve cut the dead bits off and it needs repotting, but I am reluctant to do this in case I kill it altogether, I’ve already nearly lost his money tree.

Thankfully I still have his Christmas Cacti.

The whole borders need to be prepared for summer fruits, a job Mark will do next month, as well as build the tomato framework.

Until then.

Happy Gardening.

Love Amanda.

Amanda Davies

My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.

As the UK’s best-known horticultural company, Thompson & Morgan is always at the cutting edge of plant innovation and welfare. We strive to give all our plants the best possible environments to grow in and we’re continually looking for new ways of bringing out the very best in our plants before we send them to our customers.

It was suggested in recent research that plants respond well to sound; from simple speech to complicated songs from all eras, so naturally we decided to put this to the test.

The results were quite astonishing!

In our trials, we have established quite quickly that today’s plants, using the latest breeding techniques, actually respond best to modern music. The results were so conclusive that our plant breeding team has set up a sound system in the polytunnels at our plant development site to play a daily Top Ten playlist to all the plants starting at midday when the sun is at its highest. At this time, the plants get maximum light and appear to be most receptive to the music.

Resident Music Expert and former DJ, Kevin Ketley, said:

It doesn’t surprise me that plants respond in this way to music. After all, it stimulates our brain activity and causes us to smile, tap our feet and so on, so plants will naturally grow better in that environment

The Top Ten Songs that our trials showed that plants are receptive to are:

1. Kiss From A Rose – Seal
2. Black Horse and A Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
3. Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
4. I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) – Sandi Thom
5. Lemon Tree – Fools Garden
6. Where The Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue.
7. Flowers – Sweet Female Attitude
8. Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran
9. Bed Of Roses – Bon Jovi
10. Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

Interestingly, as you can see – and hear – the plants seem to respond better to songs that actually mention them! We feel this is really quite a breakthrough and our plant breeding team will be looking for new inspiration in the coming months – they hope to be able to increase yields on root crops by playing subterranean music!

Graham Ward

I’ve been gardening for as long as I can remember, my first earliest memory being planting seeds in my Grandfather’s prestige flower bed and having a prize lettuce growing there, which he proudly left to show everyone.

Since then, gaining knowledge and experience from both my Grandfather and my Father, I’ve continued to garden, both as a hobby and later on as a professional gardener and landscaper for 12 years. I love all aspects of it, from the design and build, to the planting out of summer borders with plants you’ve either grown from seed or raised from plugs. Unusual varieties always catch my eye and I’m keen to try growing them, even if sometimes it means learning from my mistakes.

So I wasn’t far out about snowfall on Feb 20th, wasn’t I? I had a bad feeling…..BUT NOT THIS BAD!

Would you believe it, yesterday I was on the allotment pruning the blackberry hedge in my shirt sleeves and today I’m back in my thermals! I’m not sure my nerves can stand it! During the first week-long whiteout I kept sidling out with increasing trepidation to check on the plants: indications are malianthus major & fuchsia mycrophylla have succumbed and the small shrubby salvias look a bit too crisp for my liking. Time will tell. I’m panicking now; less than four months until the London Garden Society competition and NGS Open Day. And no plant hunting expeditions (to Enfield – does that count?) yet this season either – I’m getting withdrawal symptoms. Mind you, we are off to Southwold in Suffolk soon, host to many a specialist nursery, so I shall be able to feed my plant buying habit to the extreme, as I am sure that EVERYTHING OUTSIDE IS DEAD.

Meanwhile back in the garden…..the frogs have been at it again! Disgusting! It’s like the West End on a Saturday night out there. Obviously trying to make up for lost time between bouts of extreme weather, the frogs have been – how shall I put this – prolific. You could see the water rippling away from the upstairs windows day and night! I hope the spawn isn’t spoiled by this RIDICULOUS snow fest. To whom do I address my complaint?

We’ve been enjoying watching the birdies, not much else to do, let’s face it! We’ve got a pair of gold finches now to add to the other couples. It’s getting a bit like Noah’s Ark with the onset of Spring (haha really?). Blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits, coal tits. (Who knew there were so many different types of tit?) Robins, dunnocks, blackbirds, wrens. We even have a devoted pair of collared doves alongside a pair of feral pigeons. (They don’t mix, not in the same class I’m afraid). No sign of the mice this year but Cyril the Squirrel is a regular.

So on a more horticultural note; I’ve been sowing my T&M seeds already. Tomatoes Rainbow Blend, Artisan and Sweet Baby. Had to put my specs on as I couldn’t see the seeds; at six in a packet you can’t afford for them to go astray. Cerinthe major and ricinus communis are more like my kinda seeds, BIG. All in the propagators in suspended animation, no doubt due to this ICE AGE! Last year’s overwintered T&M begonia tubers are romping away, so robust are they that I have been able to take them out of the propagators to fend for themselves. (Interesting aside: Apricot Shades are way ahead of Non Stop Mocca.) My T&M foxglove Illumination Flame plugs arrived today. After I had stopped laughing hysterically, I had to admit that they are lovely plump jumbo plugs, so I shall force myself into the FREEZING COLD greenhouse to pot them up without delay.

To those of you patient enough to wait until end April/ early May to see if their late developing perennials have survived, I offer my admiration and wish you luck. I think I’ll hedge my bets: if there aren’t any further signs of life by Easter, I shall dig’em up and stick‘em in pots before replacing them with LOVELY NEW ALTERNATIVES. The list includes small shrubby salvias, penstemons & erysimums. There are exceptions: Having protected my favourite tender plants, agastache Golden Jubilee, salvias Black & Blue and Amistad, with T&M plastic auto watering collars, filled to the brim with mulch over winter, I was delighted to see that new growth was coming through. That is, until this morning, when they were once again covered with snow. So now we wait and see….I shall be heartbroken if they die after such a promising comeback.

I was asked recently, Which was more important to me: The garden, my husband or my cats? Well, let’s put it like this: If Everything In The Garden Is Lovely then all is well with husband and cats. So you can only imagine what a nightmare my household is at the moment! I am to be found stalking around irritably mumbling about the irony of Global Warming, whilst my Dearly Beloved thinks it’s HILARIOUS to recite the latest weather forecast on the hour. And I was doing so well too. Roses done, clematis done, hydrangeas and fuchsias done (oh woe is me). I finally surrendered to my impatience and cut back last year’s canna foliage, only to watch helplessly as their stumps and new shoots turned to mush in the ensuing snow. The consequences of this unwelcome weather will spread far and wide, as do I. By now I have usually burned off my winter weight through copious activity in the garden (not to be confused with the frogs). Not so this year. I want to be 60kgs on my 60^th birthday (20^th April – same day as Adolf Hitler) so there is work to be done.

In conclusion, I grudgingly admit that some parts of the garden have been greatly enhanced by the snow. The coloured dogwood stems really stand out (hadn’t got round to pruning them yet, thank goodness). T & M cornus Winter Flame (Winter 2012/3 trials) sets off mahonia Soft Caress and sorbaria Seb a treat under the apple tree. Snow dusts the pittosporum Tom Thumb like icing sugar, and the tracing along the ancient limbs of the lilac looks positively architectural darhling! T&M bulbs chionodoxa (or scilla- which is which?) are thoroughly enjoying this weather, as their name would suggest, Glory of The Snow! And in the front garden, David’s installation of The Magic Tap water feature has caused consternation amongst the local children.

I shall leave you to ponder the following: if it carries on like this you can use your leftover Christmas cards as Easter greetings.

Happy gardening!

Caroline Broome

Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page. 

Welcome to Baking Blog. Each month will feature an in-season fruit or vegetable dish to make with a little bit of grow-your-own information on the side.

March is perfect for making Curried Cauliflower Crunch.

Cauliflower doesn’t have to be boring, there are many different varieties to sow, grow, and eat. With colours such as green, orange and purple, why not try this often-neglected vegetable served raw, roasted or fried, instead of just boiled or steamed.

Amongst other things cauliflower contains high levels of vitamin C, and being related to Broccoli, Kale and Cabbage it also contains vitamins B and K, as well as dietary fibre.

Prep Time 5 minutes. Cooking Time 10 Minutes. Skills Level Seasoned Kitchen Gardner***

Utensils

• Chopping Board
• Vegetable Knife.
• Measuring Spoon
• Spatula.
• Frying Pan with Lid.
• Serving Dish.

Ingredients

• Cauliflower.
• 6 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil.
• 1-2 Teaspoons of Garam Masala.
• 1-2 Teaspoons of Black Pepper.

Method

• Wash the cauliflower thoroughly. Remove the leaves and dry florets with kitchen paper.
• Cut the florets into mouth-sized chunks or cubes.
• Put the oil in the frying pan add the Black Pepper and Garam Masala, swirl with the spatula cover with the lid and warm on a low heat for a few minutes. Swirl again.
• Once the fragrance of the spices come through add the cauliflower chunks. Swirl until the chunks are evenly coated, then cover with a lid and keep on a medium to low heat.
• Occasionally swirl the cauliflower around so that all edges are crispy. They will look dark because of the spicing, but they should not be burnt.
• After ten minutes the cauliflower should be just tender, enabling you to spear with a fork, but not mushy.
• Drain excess oil and either eat warm or allow to cool completely.

Serving Suggestions

Serve hot with a curry dish, or cool with mango chutney as a starter or side dish.

Go Italian and season with salt and pepper instead of the Indian spices. Once cooled, drizzle with white wine vinegar, olive oil, basil and oregano.

Go Chinese and season with 5 or 7 Spice mixes.

Go individual and try it with whatever herbs and spices you have, including chilli powder and dark chocolate.

Grow Your Own.

Cauliflowers can be grown from January to May and again in the autumn under glass. Whether direct sow in a warm bed, or in singular cells seed trays in a greenhouse. Sow at 1/4 deep

They are hungry plants so prepare their final growing position with well rotted manure, and use a liquid feed throughout the growing season. It’s best to ensure that the soil is moist before planting out as dry roots can cause club root causing the plants to wilt and die.

For more information on growing cauliflower why not read Sonia Mermagan’s blog here.

*** Easy Peasy – Basic techniques/Suitable for Children with adult supervision/help.

Treat as Tender – Intermediate Skills required/Children may need more help with this.

Seasoned Kitchen Gardener – Confident Baker/Children might not be suited to this.

Amanda Davies

My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.