by Thompson & Morgan | Jun 18, 2013 | Your Stories
By the end of May, all the bedding plants were put in the borders and watered in for a few nights. Last weekend after some heavy rain I went around them all with a small 2 pronged claw and loosened the soil. This will let air in around the roots and create dry soil mulch, trapping some of the moisture below as well as enhancing the visual appearance of the borders.
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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.
by Deborah Catchpole | Apr 23, 2013 | Your Stories
What can we do to ensure that our allotments are getting the love that they deserve? Locally to me in Hertfordshire, there are some sites which have been threatened with closure, due to planned developments – the people who grow on the sites are understandably battling hard to try to keep their beloved allotments, and it made me think about what it is that we love about our allotments, and why some sites are now struggling to fill plots, or why councils are trying to close them down for development.
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I’m a 30 year old, writer, photographer, gardener, and sweetpea obsessive! I did a degree in English Literature at The University of Liverpool, and when I am not writing I’m often found in my garden.
Deborah has also written gardening articles for The Herts Advertiser
by Rebecca Tute | Apr 9, 2013 | Flowers, Vegetables
Grow your own – it’s not too late!
Sow petunias under glass now
Spring may be late this year, but there is still plenty of time to grow your own. In fact, waiting and sowing later when the soil and weather conditions are better means that your seeds will germinate more successfully than in cold wet soil.
With many gardeners wondering how they’re going to get the best from their gardens with such a late start to the season, we asked Sue Sanderson for her expert advice. Here’s what she said:
If the soil is warm enough and the weather conditions are favourable, you can sow hardy annuals direct outside from April, right through to the 1st week of June. If you’re really desperate to get germination underway, you could sow seeds into cell trays under cover and plant them out once the conditions outside improve. There is plenty of time, so don’t panic!
Petunias, ipomoea, nicotiana, dahlia, ageratum, lobelia and sunflowers can be sown up to mid April under glass.
Sow tomato seeds now
Marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and tagetes are the last half-hardy annuals you would sow – these can be sown under glass from April through to early May.
Sow tomatoes and aubergines up to the 3rd week of April.
It’s getting a little late to sow peppers – you’ve only really got until the end of the 2nd week of April to get them going.
Summer brassicas should be sown by now for early harvests, but late summer early autumn harvesting varieties can be sown up to early May.
Wait until the soil has warmed up to sow other vegetable seeds – you’re more likely to get a better crop.
Plant potatoes until mid May
Potatoes, especially maincrops, can be planted up until mid May.
You can give your soil a helping hand in warming with cloches and polytunnels. These will also protect your crops while they’re growing.
So don’t despair, you’ve still got time to create a fabulous display of flowers and grow a decent crop of vegetables to see you through the year.
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.
by Rebecca Tute | Jan 15, 2013 | Gardening News
Gardening memories of 2012
2012 was full of gardening memories, not least because of the almost never-ending rain and lack of sunshine. A while ago we asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans to tweet and post their most memorable moments and got some great comments. We thought we’d turn it into a blog post with contributions from Thompson & Morgan’s web team.
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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.
by Elizabeth Dyer | Jan 9, 2013 | Vegetables, Your Stories
A Beginners Guide to Growing a Veg Garden
Why grow veg? For me it’s ultimately about cooking, with the added incentive of being in nature in a way that I find enjoyable. It’s also better value, seasonal, greener and gives me a feeling of history, past and legacy. It’s about that sudden craving for dark spring greens during March or a taste for swede once the clocks have gone back.
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Elizabeth is one of the Woolly Gardeners at Woolly Green. She recently moved out of London back to her roots in Devon because she loves sheep and to be nearer her family and friends. She knows she sounds like a Miss World contestant, but she really wants to leave things a bit better than she finds them 🙂
