At Thompson & Morgan, we have been selling plants for over 20 years now, including thousands, if not millions, of fuchsias! Our customers love a good fuchsia; from the small-flowered, table top style to the glorious trailing varieties. But, for now, we’re talking about the ‘big Daddies’ of the fuchsia world; the giant-flowered trailers!
Thompson & Morgan Gardening Blog
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Propagation, planting out and cultivation posts from writers that know their subjects well.
Making a start on your plot
So you’re now the proud tenant of your new plot. You look, you scratch your head, you stand and survey. The fact of the matter is, there is only one way to get a plot up and running and that’s hard work. I started with cutting through the bramble jungle, once cut down to ground level then the fun really begins. Digging out all of the roots, this is quite labour intensive but unfortunately very necessary it really is the only way to ensure they don’t grow back. If you’re lucky enough to inherit fruit bushes try and salvage what you can as these are usually quite established and still produce good fruit even if you decide to relocate. Just make sure when relocating that you dig down fair enough to get the entire root. I inherited quite a few raspberries on mine which I moved to a different bed and still managed to get a good crop, they fruited much better in the second planting season. I even discovered I had a yellow raspberry bush and they tasted so much sweeter.
After clearing the bramble, grasses and what seemed like 10,000 milk bottle tops (what’s that all about) the big dig started, it seemed to go on forever with moving old bottles and pieces of brick. I even came across several large pieces of old carpet. Sometimes people use carpet to suppress the weeds; you can buy much more environmentally friendly alternatives now thankfully. On our site we have a ban on carpet; we are only allowed to use horticultural tarpaulin.
Through the winter months when I am not using so many beds I tend to plant green manure. There are many different mixes to choose from, I personally use the clover mix but it depends on what soil you have as to which mix you choose. The green manure on the whole replaces nitrogen back into the soil. It is a fast growing plant sown to cover bare soil, perfect for allotments. The foliage smothers weeds and the roots prevent soil erosion, when dug into the ground while still green it returns valuable nutrients to the soil and improves soil structure. It is extremely easy to sow and grow, the only thing to remember is to make sure you dig the foliage and plant into the top 2.5cm (10in) of soil and to do this 3-4 weeks before you actually intend on planting or sowing as the decay in green material can hamper plant growth.
After digging, my allotment neighbour informed me he had a rotavator I could borrow. Some people dig, some people rotivate, it’s a personal choice. On our site its split down the middle, the older generation tend to dig whilst the younger ones rotivate (that sounds like a sweeping generalisation but it’s just what I have observed on our site).
Next step I decided I would have raised beds partly so I didn’t loose soil onto the pathways and also so I could use a lot of compost to improve the soil as it hadn’t been used for a long time. There was also a tiny lazy part of me that thought whilst watching my allotment neighbour dig from one side of her allotment to the other only to tread all over it, that surely it’s easier to concentrate on just digging the areas where your growing your veg. We are very lucky on our site we have a wood chip delivery and this is what we use in our paths between our beds, this makes life a lot easier and tidier. Many people use scaffold boards for their beds these are ideal if you can get hold of them, I personally used fencing kick boards.
Next purchase was a shed you need somewhere to store your tools and escape from the rain and most importantly brew a good cuppa. I purchased mine second hand on eBay for £77, my dad and my partner also added a veranda on the front as it gets quite stuffy in there in the summer. It’s a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by and it’s also turned into the site tea hut. You can have your shed as comfy or as basic as you like. I was lucky enough to be given a second shed 6×6 which became my t&t shed (toilet and tools) we don’t have toilets on our site so I have a camping toilet in mine. A lot of sites have size restrictions on sheds mine is 9ft x 8ft and must confess has become a home from home.
Once your beds are planned and your sheds are up, you can concentrate on your soil before planting and if you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse it makes your growing season so much longer.
In my next post I shall give you some tips on what to grow and when.
Hi my name is Michelle, I was a contestant on BBC2 big allotment challenge 2014, and also BBC1 allotment wars. I have my own allotment and have done for 5 years now, so I will be discussing all things allotments from locating to preparing with you.
Windowsill Gardening
I have been gardening since I was knee high to my Grandad, he taught me as much about gardening when I was a nipper as I learnt at school about reading and writing! My father is also a keen gardener and so I have had a very well rounded gardening education. I have been working as a self employed gardener/landscaper for approximately ten years and I now work at Thompson & Morgan in the customer care department. I have a passion for gardening, growing things is one of the most rewarding things anyone can do.
I can also tend to be slightly “off the wall” in my thinking. I will try and make / build /construct things in the garden – from Old Compact Disc windmills to planters made from various bits and pieces. I still make Hypertufa using Geoff Hamilton’s recipe and have used it to make fake rocks and fake stone planters in gardens in the past.
But of course not everyone has access to their own (or other peoples’) gardens and so I started to think about growing more things indoors, things that would be useful in cooking, or would brighten up a room. I also wanted to recycle as it’s a cheaper and sometimes more fun way of doing things.
And so I’m going to share my “adventures” in windowsill gardening, I’ll document how I’ve made things and how well they do (successes and failures). I’m really looking forward to it and my brain is already whirring with a thousand ideas – some of which might even work!
So…. Uses for plastic bottles, and where and when? Those are the questions.
After some trawling of the internet, I came up with my first plan… a super windowsill onion planter, great! Onions sets aren’t in season yet and I’m a little keen to try this idea out, then I remembered I had some tulips and crocus and even a few daff bulbs that I hadn’t planted out yet that all had inch long shoots on them and needed using up.
So my first plan is… a super windowsill bulb planter.
We have some very large 4 litre squash bottles at work so I earmarked one of those and waited patiently for the staff to hurry and finish it up, as soon as it was empty I grabbed it and washed it out.
Looking very strange taking an empty squash bottle back to my desk, I started to work out how many bulbs I could plant inside and, armed with a marker pen, I worked out a rough criss-cross pattern which allowed me to put 64 bulbs inside. The next stage was to drill each of the holes out, which is a bit tricky as I didn’t want to split the bottle, I might try using a soldering iron or hot glue gun to melt the holes out next time as they were a bit on the rough side with burrs etc. Then I cut around the top so that I could get my hand inside.
And so to the planting, this was surprisingly easy, layers of compost and then poking the bulb shoots through each of the holes, until they were fairly tight (so that no water could escape), building up until I’d reached the top, I then planted four crocus bulbs in the top and taped the bottle top back, this was hopefully to reduce loss of water through evaporation.
Once I’d watered the bottle thoroughly I put it on the windowsill and I’m now waiting to see what happens…
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.
Confessions of a Chilliholic
The Grow Diary of a Chilliholic – January 2015
My name’s Kris and I’m a Chilliholic. It’s been nearly a year since I last opened a seed packet, and I’m about to fall off the wagon!
I go through it every January. With the dust settled after an active Christmas, and the spring growing season still so far away, I turn into ‘The Impatient Gardener’. That’s when I know it’s time to take the edge off by planning my chilli crop for the year ahead, getting seeds ordered and prepping for an end of month sowing.
I’ve grown chillies for years and have enjoyed eating them much longer than that. Each year I grow more varieties, but my addiction really took hold three years ago. After a really good season in the greenhouse I entered a local chilli growing competition for a bit of fun. The judges disqualified my entry for having more than one plant in a pot. To rub salt in the wound I was told I’d have taken 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place if my three plants had been in their own pots. The next year I returned with three plants, entered two categories and took 1st place and two 2nd place positions. What a buzz!
I could talk chillies all day, but that doesn’t make for a user-friendly blog! Instead I’ll spread my passion across the year as I offer my monthly tips for your plants and show you how I grow mine. For now here are the reasons why, if I could only ever grow one type of plant for the rest of my life, it would be chillies:
Why I love cooking with chillies
In the early days it was all about riding the adrenaline rush of a hot curry, getting a buzz from the burn in my mouth and going on to push my limits with hotter varieties. I once made a Thai stir fry so hot that it gave me a nose bleed! (Believe me, it can happen – Google ‘chilli nose bleed’). I still enjoy the heat but when you get hooked on chillies you eventually realise, for the sake of your taste buds alone, that things need to change.
I still fall off the wagon every now and then – perhaps dropping some Norfolk Naga into a curry, but I’ve mainly got things under control. These days it’s about exploring the different tastes and flavours to be found hiding behind the heat and matching them to the right cuisine – Thai, Indian, Jamaican, Mexican etc – in order to create dishes that won’t have the people I cook for running for the milk bottle, eyes streaming!
This year I’ll be using the bulk of my crop to make a variety of long-store sauces that lend themselves to the different cuisines I enjoy cooking.
Why I love growing chillies
The variation – There are so many types to try both in terms of flavour, fruit size and growth habit. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of hunting down and researching “next year’s crop”.
Ease of care – I’ve never had any problems with my plants other than the odd aphid attack.
Beauty – many varieties make excellent dual-purpose houseplants. I’d happily grow Scotch Bonnets for their crinkled heart-shaped foliage alone, and the symmetrical habit of Chilli ‘Loco’ astounded me last season.
Length of season – Its best to start as early as possible to get the biggest plants, but even a March or April sowing will give you a good return, with plants cropping well into late autumn. I still have a plant, sown last January, holding on to a few fruits in my unheated greenhouse a year later!
This year I’m growing 15 varieties, more than ever before:
Tabasco, Praire Fire, Padron, Naga Jolokia, Numex Twilight, Demon Red, Tropical Heat mix, Fuego F1, Krakatoa F1, Paper Lantern, Jalapeno Summer Heat F1, Pot Black, Hot Cheyenne F1, Poblana Ancho.
Some I’ll look at individually in more detail in later blogs, some I’ll group together, and others may not get much of a mention until the end of the season when I look back at my results. For an overview of the plants on my list, plus some other that I just don’t have the room for this year, Click Here.
Stay tuned for my next blog where I’ll set out my secrets for sowing success.
Kris Collins works as Thompson & Morgan’s quality control manager, making sure customers new and old are kept up to date on the latest plant developments and company news via a wide range of media sources. He trained in London’s Royal Parks and has spent more than a decade writing for UK gardening publications before joining the team at Thompson & Morgan.
Gardening is therapy – Ray’s story
Ray and Sharon
A year ago when Ray came to Thrive, he was at a complete loss and couldn’t see a future for himself.
The Thompson & Morgan horticultural team produces a wealth of content around gardening and food production. Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
My Fuchsia Experience so far – by Lucas Hatch
Last year I bought the Thompson & Morgan Fuchsia ‘Giant Collection’. It included some of the biggest fuchsia flowers I had ever seen, Bella Rosella, Bicentennial, Quasar, Seventh Heaven and voodoo. It amazed me how quickly they grew and how well they flowered.
Lucas started gardening when he was 6 years old and after becoming the RHS Young Gardener of the Year 2012, his interest in gardening continues to grow. He is the youngest member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel. His latest accolade is to have taken part in the Suffolk Show’s Model Garden Competition where he won Best in Show receiving the Otley College Perpetual Challenge Trophy.
Home-grown fruit & veg is back on the menu
More and more people are keen to get their hands into trying home-grown fruit & veg in order to cut down the cost of their weekly shop. Combined with healthy eating campaigns such as Jamie Oliver in schools, the appetite to become more self-sufficient is higher than ever.
Terri works in the e-commerce marketing department assisting the busy web team. Terri manages our blog and social media pages here at Thompson & Morgan and is dedicated to providing useful advice to our gardeners. Terri is new to gardening and keen to develop her horticultural knowledge.
How to grow fuchsias
There are few plant groups that are as diverse as the fuchsia. These exotic looking beauties are firm favourites for their pendant flowers in a wonderful range of colour combinations. Fuchsias may be deciduous or evergreen depending on their variety and growing conditions. They’re versatile too, growing happily in sun or semi shade. These hard working shrubs will flower virtually all summer long, filling borders, beds, window boxes, hanging baskets and patio containers – in fact, they will bring colour to almost any position that you can think of.
Plants and gardens have always been a big part of my life. I can remember helping my Dad to prick out seedlings, even before I could see over the top of the potting bench. As an adult, I trained at Writtle College where I received my degree, BSc. (Hons) Horticulture. After working in a specialist plantsman’s nursery, and later, as a consulting arboriculturalist, I joined Thompson & Morgan in 2008. Initially looking after the grounds and coordinating the plant trials, I now support the web team offering horticultural advice online. I have a keen interest in drought resistant plants and a passion for perennials, particularly hardy Geraniums. I previously stood as regional secretary for the International Plant Propagation Society which gave me lots of opportunities to see what other horticulturalists were up to in their nurseries and gardens.
How to get an Allotment – with Michelle Stacey
Hi, my name is Michelle and I was a contestant on BBC2 big allotment challenge 2014, and also BBC1 allotment wars. I have my own allotment and have done for 5 years now, the lovelies at Thompson & Morgan have asked if I would like to write an allotment blog, so I thought we would start right back at the beginning.
Hi my name is Michelle, I was a contestant on BBC2 big allotment challenge 2014, and also BBC1 allotment wars. I have my own allotment and have done for 5 years now, so I will be discussing all things allotments from locating to preparing with you.
A year in the greenhouse – Amanda
Hello everyone, my name is Amanda and this is the first of what I hope will be one of my many blogs for Thompson & Morgan. I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. It’s situated at the top of a hill and literally a five minute walk from the Cleddau Estuary. Being so close to the Irish Sea means that we get mild temperatures in the winter, however we also have to cope with the very strong salt-laden westerly winds that can blow up at any time of the year.
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.