Thompson & Morgan Gardening Blog

Our gardening blog covers a wide variety of topics, including fruit, vegetable and tree stories. Read some of the top gardening stories right here.

Propagation, planting out and cultivation posts from writers that know their subjects well.

Winding down through autumn

by | Oct 25, 2016 | , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Having had an unexpected rest from gardening due to a chest infection that has now lasted for around 6 weeks, and a computer crash following an update! Which ended up at the repairers for around nine days.  Thankfully I am now starting to recover and have managed to cut back old plants that were overdue and cleaning out pots. As I had to leave a lot of the work I noticed that plants seem to be having a second round of flowering – I guess you never give up learning especially when it comes to gardening.

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Geoff Stonebanks trio of triumphs

by | Oct 25, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Geoff Stonebanks, one of the customer trial panelists and owner of the multi-award winning garden, Driftwood, in Bishopstone, Sussex, has had a very successful gardening year. He’s just scored a trio of triumphs in 2016.

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Cosmos ‘Cupcakes White’ favourite with RHS visitors

by | Oct 24, 2016 | , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Cosmos has been Fleuroselect’s very successful plant of the year for 2016. With the year drawing to a close a favourite cosmos needed to be crowned.

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New bird care products to enjoy

by | Oct 21, 2016 | , , , , , | 0 Comments

In a bid to provide the gardener with everything they may need for their outdoor space, T&M have recently introduced a new bird care range.

Within the gardening community it is considered good practice to encourage wildlife, and especially birds into the garden. Not least because they are as native as we are and have as much right to be here as we do.

We often forget how truly magnificent birds are. Some birds take up the challenge of migrating thousands of miles just to be somewhere where there is a larger food stock or better nesting facilities. The UK has a fairly temperate climate, which is perfect for a wide variety of birds. This makes the UK a great place to see common and visiting birds. However, with the urbanisation of much of the country it is necessary to top up the bird’s food sources to give them a helping hand.

A variety of bird feed

A variety of bird feed

At T&M we have a variety of bird care essentials in our range, making it easy for you to order via our website. It is not just winter time that birds need help with homes and food. During the summer months we have visitors such as swallows and martins, who may need help with nesting habitat or a wider variety of food.

Although there are specific food and nesting needs for certain birds, for a beginner all you really need to do is provide food. You can then wait and see what happens! This is a great way to introduce you and the children to the joys of watching wildlife. In our range, we have bird feeders, bird seed and bird hygiene products to keep everything clean and healthy. This will provide you with endless enjoyment watching your garden visitors eat to their hearts content.

Bird tables and stations

Bird tables and stations

If you want to provide a home for birds, you can choose one of our bird boxes where they can make a nest. Watching a bird fledge for the first time is an amazing experience. But the favourite of all things bird is the bird bath. Watching a bird having a bath is one of the funniest and most enjoyable things. When birds have a bath they can get quite excited, and tend to forget themselves for a few minutes while they are soaking and cleaning themselves. It is important to provide a safe environment around your bird bath. See our bird bath blog on where to position your bird bath.

Why not have a browse through our range, choose some seed and a table or station and see what happens. We would love to see your photos of the birds that visit your garden and perhaps even start keeping a diary of what type of bird visited when. We have lots of helpful guides to encourage wildlife, which plants are best for wildlife and pollinators, and ideas on wildlife habitat.

Bird tables and baths

Bird tables and baths

 

Look to winter shades to keep the blues away

by | Oct 20, 2016 | , , , , , , | 0 Comments

Autumn is upon us and winter is fast approaching, long cold nights offer little to raise our spirits and many people now recognise S.A.D. as a definite problem at this time of year.

The loss of daylight hours and the cold temperatures can give us a lack of incentive to wander outside into our gardens, there are no longer any summer blooms, bees or butterflies to wonder at, and it is so much easier to stay indoors and wait for spring.

But if you do stay in, you are missing out on so many autumn and winter spectacles, sights and colours!
It is still possible to create a fantastic autumn and winter display to bring you outside – where you will at least get a little sunshine – not just flowers but grasses, shrubs and trees can brighten up even the dreariest of days.

Take pennisetums for example, a wide range of them are available; they are guaranteed to draw you in with their wonderful structure, colour and amazing seedheads. They are very easy to maintain and look fantastic planted in drifts of different shapes and sizes.

Pennisetum alopecuroides, Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks' & Pennisetum villosum 'Cream Falls'

Pennisetum alopecuroides, Pennisetum setaceum ‘Fireworks’ & Pennisetum villosum ‘Cream Falls’

There are a huge variety of colours still to be seen at this time of year, the bright foliage of berberis makes a striking counterpoint to the bare trees or other evergreens around it, almost adding the warmth of a roaring fire. Pyracanthus will offer its red or yellow berries into the display too (making a tasty treat for the birds at the same time).

Holly, yew and privet, with many other evergreens can help maintain rich glossy layers of deep greens. Usually at the back of borders they help to provide a backdrop for other plants. Many have berries too, adding contrast and additional interest.

Berberis 'Admiration,' Pyracantha 'Soleil d'Or,' & Eucalyptus gunnii

Berberis ‘Admiration,’ Pyracantha ‘Soleil d’Or,’ & Eucalyptus gunnii

Moving upwards, there are many trees that create lots of interest during autumn and winter. Some, like eucalyptus are not only evergreen, but have unusual coloured leaves and interesting bark too. Whilst others once they have given us a spectacular display of autumn colours as their leaves fall, reveal a wonderful winter filigree of branches and twigs to capture the frosts or winter sunshine.

Of course, the easiest way to provide yourself with quick and easy colour is to plant out winter bedding in pots or borders where they can be easily seen from indoors. Even if you are not tempted to leave the warmth of your house, the cheery faces of pansies, the bright shades of primroses and the daisy heads of bellis are sure to bring a smile or two!

Pansy 'Matrix™ Mixed,' Polyanthus 'Firecracker' & Bellis 'Pomponette Mixed'

Pansy ‘Matrix™ Mixed,’ Polyanthus ‘Firecracker’ & Bellis ‘Pomponette Mixed’

There is really no excuse to not enjoy your garden this autumn and winter, there are plenty of joys to behold, colours to take in and various plants and schemes to try out. I’ve only touched on a few of my ideas and favourites. There are so many more I could have added, cornus, autumn crocuses, winter flowering clematis to name a few.

Check out Thompson & Morgan’s plant finder, I have always found it a really useful tool when thinking about trying new plants in different locations and at different times of the year too. You can find more ideas and advice on our winter flowers hub page.

RETURN OF THE MICE

by | Oct 14, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

I’m so excited! (Sad middle-aged woman, doesn’t get out much.) I’ve bought a large heated propagator and David has fixed up my smaller ones so I now have 5 on the go! The perennials must be quaking in their boots as I have been prowling around, secateurs in hand, eyes narrowed, snipping off as many non-flowering shoots as I could find. I have even dug out (haha, no pun intended) some (stale) organic rooting powder and added vermiculite to my potting compost to give them the best start in life.

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Autumn Pumpkin Festival

by | Oct 8, 2016 | | 0 Comments

Twins reclaim throne as Pumpkin Kings with 2,252lb record breaker

Ian and Stuart Paton UK record holders with Paul Hansord, Thompson & Morgan

Ian and Stuart Paton UK record holders with Paul Hansord, Thompson & Morgan

Hampshire brothers smash the British record and set their sights on the world record in 2017

Ian and Stuart Paton have broken the British record for a giant pumpkin for an incredible 7th time at the annual Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Southampton. The event draws pumpkin growers from across the UK, all hoping to take home the prize for the UK’s largest pumpkin. This year, the Paton’s gargantuan gourd measured more than 19ft in circumference and during its peak period of growth, it piled on a staggering 57lb each day for 2 weeks. To match its rate of growth, the vigilant horticultural siblings, who run Pine Tops Nursery in Hants, lovingly supplied over 100 gallons of water a day, plus a nutrient-rich fertiliser. As the all-important weigh-in date approached, Ian and Stuart were spending 5 hours a day nurturing the 3 giant pumpkins that they entered into the competition. The final weight of the winning entry is just 71lb off the world record.

The new UK heaviest pumpkin record holder

The new UK heaviest pumpkin record holder

 

Each time a record is broken at the annual Jubilee Sailing Trust Autumn Pumpkin Festival, show sponsor – seed and plant mail order specialist Thompson & Morgan – takes the winning specimen back to its Ipswich HQ. The seeds are harvested, tested for viability and prepared for sale, so for any budding giant pumpkin growers inspired by this weekend’s jumbo entries, Thompson & Morgan sell the seeds under the aptly named variety, Pumpkin ‘Paton Twins Giant’. It’s a popular line with amateur growers at just £9.99 for two huge seeds with the genetics to become a record breaker with the right care. It’s the seed of choice for serious competitors too – the majority of entries to this year’s official weigh-in at the Southampton pumpkin event were grown from seeds supplied by the Patons.
The brothers will be using seeds from this year’s crop next year – which they say will bear the best seeds in the country thanks to careful hand pollination of their plants to cross two of their best ever performing plants. And with the world record now held closer to home (Swiss gardener, Ben Meier, took the title in 2014 with a 2,323lb monster) they say they are even more set on achieving the accolade themselves.

Stuart said: “We’ve always been confident of winning the world title eventually, and our new greenhouse has made a big difference with its better soil and light levels, an improved watering system and a larger growing area with a more consistent temperature. We’re well prepared to take on not only the Swiss, but the Americans too.”

T&M Horticultural Director, Paul Hansord said: “It used to be said that the world record would never leave the US, but if the Swiss can do it, so can we. Our seed quality just keeps getting better, thanks to the Patons’ selective pollination, and UK growers are upping the game every year. I’ve every confidence the Paton boys can bring the world title to UK shores in the near future.”

Having just handed over the £1,000 prize cheque and with a promise to pay £10,000 for a British world beater, he could be regretting that confidence in coming years!

Want to try and grow a record breaker? Try Dill’s Atlantic Giant, with fruits weighing in at up to 800k!

For further information, images and reader offers/competitions on Paton Twin Giant seeds, please email Julie Rush jrush@thompson-morgan.com or call 01473 695227

Giant pumpkin on the move

by | Oct 7, 2016 | , , , , , | 2 Comments

Thompson & Morgan, after giving a call out to pumpkin growers in the UK finally entrusted the world’s most expensive pumpkin seed, to experts at the Royal Horticultural Society. The pumpkin seed was bought for a whopping £1,250, and has built-in genetics to increase the chance of breaking the world record for the largest pumpkin grown. The RHS then delegated this awesome task to Matthew Oliver, their horticulturalist, at RHS Hyde Hall. He has grown the pumpkin through the summer, with a view to breaking the world record for Thompson & Morgan and the RHS.

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Garden tools for autumn and winter

by | Oct 5, 2016 | , , , , | 0 Comments

Autumn is the time of year to think about cleaning and maintenance. To help with this, we have listed a number of tasks and tools to use. This is not an exhaustative list but includes some hints and tips to get you started.

Greenhouse, gardening & all-purpose cleaner

Greenhouse, gardening & all-purpose cleaner

Greenhouse: The greenhouse is an important part of your autumn/winter plans. If you don’t already have one, now is the time to invest. If you are lucky enough, then it is time to have a cleanup. When most of your plants have died back, it is the perfect time to give the greenhouse a sweep. This removes any unwanted old compost, and decayed plant matter, making sure you keep those garden pests, such as wood lice, at bay. Get a good broom, and strong handle, lift all the old pots and containers off the floor, and sweep around. Give the floor and windows a good clean with a strong cleaning agent or disinfectant. This will rid your greenhouse of anything unwanted from the previous season. If you have completely cleared out the greenhouse, you could even use a pressure washer. When the greenhouse is empty, put in some insulation to keep everything warm over the autumn and winter seasons. If you have pots lying around, give them a wash and any old and broken pots can be used for drainage in new pots. For a treat, why not add a potting bench or bench tidy to the greenhouse for when you start sowing seeds.

Potting bench & bench tidy

Potting bench & bench tidy

Tidy Borders: Prune any late-flowering shrubs, or climbing roses, unless they are repeat flowerers, then prune when finished. Either sharpen secateurs and pruning shears, or invest in new, they perform better the sharper they are. After tidying borders, add well rotted manure to add nutrients to the ground, spent mushroom compost to insulate plant roots. Add a mulch with bark chips to suppress weeds during winter and the coming season. Clear overhanging plants from pathways to maintain access routes. Make time to trim evergreen hedges before winter sets in completely. This will keep them neat and tidy through the season. You could even install solar lighting to see your garden in the dark evenings.

Lawn mower & garden fork

Lawn mower & garden fork

Lawn Maintenance: Initially invest in a suitable lawn mower for your garden. Mow any long grass, ensuring you raise the height of the mower blades as grass growth is slowing down at this time of year. Try aerating your lawn with a garden fork, as this helps to improve drainage and aeration. Remove any thatch from the surface with a garden rake, and repair dead patches with grass seed. Use a lawn scarifier if you have a large area to cover. In January, try adding lawn edging to create a neat and tidy appearance, making maintenance easier during the coming months.

Secateurs & solar lighting

Secateurs & solar lighting

Compost bin: In preparation for all the fallen leaves and dead plant material to come over the coming months, buy a compost bin. Autumn leaves are a good addition to compost bins and ideal for leaf mould. However don’t compost rose leaves in case they have diseases such as black spot. If you are adding woody pruning to compost bins, shred or chop it first as they are slow to decompose.

Pond wizard & netting for brassicas

Pond wizard & netting for brassicas

Fish and Bird Care: It is a good idea to add netting to your ponds to prevent leaves from falling in. Clean pond weed, and lay it out next to the pond for a couple of days to allow the wildlife to get back into the water. Add a bird bath, keeping it topped up with fresh water all through autumn and winter. Consider adding a bird feeder in the garden, keeping it topped up with bird seed and fat balls. Birds are real friends to the gardener keeping pest numbers down.

We hope these hints and tips help you to get your autumn and winter gardening underway. For more ideas, visit our What To Do In The Garden This Month, or our Top 10 Winter Tips.

Garden Mirrors and Wall Art

by | Sep 29, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Using a garden mirror in your garden or outside space is a good way to add the illusion of room, space and a whole new dimension of liberty.

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