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.

Plants mean prizes

Grow with Thompson & Morgan this season for a chance to win up to £10,000!

The UK’s largest seed and plant retailer has announced a host of gardening competitions for the 2016 season, rewarding customers for their growing skills.

The highest value prizes are linked to the giant veg growing world.

Giant Pumpkin

Giant Pumpkin – Win up to £10,000

As sponsor of the UK’s official giant pumpkin weigh in, it is stumping up a £10,000 cash reward for a world record breaking entry, £1,000 for a new UK weight record or £500 for the largest pumpkin entered on the day if no records are broken. To take part, gardeners simply need to bring their entries to The Autumn Pumpkin Festival, Royal Victoria Park, Netley, Southampton on 8th October.

Gardeners growing Tomato ‘Gigantomo’® this season can take the fruits of their harvest to the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show (16-18 September) and take part in the National Gigantomo® Championships. Thompson & Morgan is offering £1,000 for the heaviest fruit entered. If that entry beats the current world record (7lb 12oz) the cash jackpot rises to a whopping £5,000.

Tomato 'Gigantomo' and Sunflower 'Tall Timbers'

Tomato ‘Gigantomo’ and Sunflower ‘Tall Timbers’

Having awarded a record £1,000 for the UK’s tallest sunflower in 2015, Thompson & Morgan is upping the ante for the season ahead. The £1,000 prize still stands, but if the grower has raised their plant with the company’s own incredibloom® fertiliser, the prize jumps to £2,000. If that entry also breaks the current world record (9.17m – 30ft 1in) the lucky entrant will receive a cheque for £4,000 (£2,000 for a world record breaker not grown in incredibloom®).

Gardeners don’t need to be growing giant specimens to take advantage of the prizes on offer. A host of smaller prizes are also up for grabs through a wide range of online competition categories. These test photographic flare as well as growing skills.

How does a £50 Thompson & Morgan voucher sound, simply for growing one of the easiest hardy annuals? If you are supporting the charity Thrive by growing the exclusive Sweet Pea ‘Eleanore Udall’ make sure to take photos of your plants in bloom, or perhaps a vase of fresh cut flowers. The five best photos entered will each receive a £50 Thompson & Morgan voucher to spend on the garden for the 2017 season.

Wildlife gardeners can win £100 of flowers to attract even more wildlife to the garden, simply by submitting their best garden wildlife shot – from butterflies and beetles to birds and badgers, Thompson & Morgan wants to see what creatures are visiting your garden this season.

Other online competitions include:

Closing date for all online competitions is 30 September 2016. For full details of these competitions, plus many more, click here. Giant Pumpkin entries must be brought to The Autumn Pumpkin Festival, Netley, Southampton on 8th October for judging.

What are you growing in the garden this spring?

Hello Everyone,

Spring is on its way! Every farmer, gardener and outdoor working person will be able to identify with this, there is something in the air. One day we just step outside and the air feels and smells different. Bulbs are flowering, birds are singing and there is more heat in the sun. But it’s more than that, it’s an essence of things to come.

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Grow The Best – Double Your Money Back Guarantee

At Thompson & Morgan we know our customers demand high quality with exceptional value, which is why we have worked hard to produce a range of products which exceeds the high standards our customers have come to expect from us.

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My Fascination of Plants

Have you ever really considered what attracts you to gardening or plants in general? Is it the way they look, the colours they produce, you can eat them or they were just the ones that the shop had at the time? For me it’s a bit more sciency (yes I’ve just made a new word).

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Storm stories from Geoff Stonebanks

We moved to Seaford back in 2004 and have now seen 13 years of winter weather. How unprepared we were though for the Winter of 2015/2016! The storms and gales along with the salt laden winds have been by far the worst we have experienced, in terms of their impact on the garden.

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Grow your own Monet masterpiece!

As a Royal Academy exhibition examines the role gardens have played in art history, with Monet masterpieces as the starting point, Thompson & Morgan reveals its historic link with the world famous artist, his gardens and paintings.

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Pumpkin payout

UK seed firm pays record amount for single giant pumpkin seed and offers it to home gardeners for free!

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Having fun with glass jars, beads and succulents

It’s been a long while since I managed to write things down – moving house kind of got in the way and last summer was spent trying to unpack boxes and tame a rather wild garden. Now that things are slowly getting straight I have had a chance to divert my attention to playing with indoor planting.

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Thompson & Morgan: The Best for Grow Your Own

Thompson & Morgan is moving into its peak supply season with a spring in its step having swept the board at the Great British Growing awards for a second consecutive year.

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Resistance and susceptibility

As this is my first blog, ever, I thought I would start by reflecting a little on where our gardening world has been going since the Second World War and, of course, where we are on the journey now!

Immediately after the war our successive Governments, of a variety of political persuasions, encouraged farmers and growers to maximise the cropping potential of every acre of land they could make productive. This move, in turn, caused what became known as the chemical treadmill. Where we applied stronger and stronger chemical products to kill off pests, diseases and weeds; that dared to attack our ever increasing acreages of crops. By the time we reached the 1970’s we had food mountains and wine lakes and had, without realising it, started to kill off wild flowers, insects, birds and wild animals in numbers that are now causing us serious concern.

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