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Summer 2018 - From Pembrokeshire with Love

Editor's Note : Many of our customers are familiar with Amanda, one of our bloggers who has been writing for us for some years now. Here's her latest post. Unfortunately, Amanda has some health and family issues which she quite rightly needs to concentrate on, and so she is going to be taking a…

Daffodils – plant them now for the best blooms

Plant daffodils now for the best spring displaysNarcissus ‘Rainbow Butterflies Mixed’A colleague heard Alan Titchmarsh talking about planting daffodils in August on his radio show at the weekend and was a bit surprised. After all, August is hardly the usual time to be thinking about…

7 wonderful ways to sow wildflowers

Wildflowers deliver colour, scent, texture and interest to gardens large and smallImage: shutterstock Wildflowers are a colourful, low-maintenance and cost-effective way to make your garden buzz with life. Particularly attractive to pollinators, they provide important food and shelter for a wide…

How to Grow Tomatoes

You can’t deny the flavour of fresh home-grown tomato straight from the vine. Their taste is far superior to the bland tomatoes offered in the supermarkets making them perfect for tomato soup and they’re really easy to grow.Growing tomatoes from seedGrowing tomato plants from seed is a…

Wisteria masterclass: best expert content

Wisteria flowers are highly scented and look fantastic trailing en masseImage: Wisteria floribunda Domino' from Thompson & Morgan Find everything you need to grow fabulous wisteria here. From troubleshooting flowering issues to keeping these vigorous climbers under control with correct pruning…

Growing your own cut flowers

Who doesn’t love a jug of flowers on the kitchen table?When students arrive I pop warm muffins and a pot of fresh Fairtrade coffee on the kitchen table next to a jug of flowers. It makes people feel welcome and there are always comments on how lovely the flowers are.  But when it comes to…

New plants arrived, but the weather’s too bad to plant them up!

My new strawberry runners (Flamenco, chosen by my 7-year old daughter) arrived at the end of last week and I had hoped to get out into the garden to plant them. Ha! No such luck – a few inches of snow put paid to that idea. We got off quite lightly snow-wise compared to other parts of the…

A new season at my allotment

A new season in a new growing year. Spring, my favourite time of year.This will be my sixth season at my allotment in Southampton. It is eleven rods long, quite a big plot. I decided to section everything up with raised beds; it has no grass but wood chip paths. After the storms and wet weather the…

Deborah Catchpole

Guest blogger Deborah Catchpole writes about her early and formative gardening experiences…I’m a gardener. There; I’ve said it. It’s not always the first thing that a 28 year old is willing to admit, but for me, it’s something that has come to define who I am –…

How to use hardy fuchsias in the garden

Hardy fuchsia 'Hawkshead' produces delicate white blossomsImage: Fuchsia 'Hawkshead' from Thompson & Morgan Hardy fuchsia plants are excellent all-rounders, showcasing a fabulous range of flower forms throughout the season. From delicate four-petalled blooms to blowsy giants, they're a great…

The Ice Age ends at Henly's Corner

So during the barren winter months one has to find other distractions to amuse oneself, such as eating and talking. At a recent lunch party (ooh, get her!) I found myself sitting with a retired geography teacher discussing the advantages and disadvantages of London clay in horticulture. (Cor,…

Plants for Pets: A Guide to Pet-Friendly Houseplants

Pets and plants don't always go together. My 'Border Terrorists', Ogmore and Dylan, are notorious for chomping foliage. Whilst they mainly graze on Dog Mercury and other outdoor weeds, they have also unleashed their rasping tongues on my once elegant Bamboo Palm ( Dypsis lutescens),leaving it…

Customer trials – update from Joy Gough

We recently introduced you to some of the members of our customer trials team, who are busy working away in their gardens growing the seeds and plants we sent them earlier in the year. We’ve had a few updates and thought it was high time we shared them with you.Joy Gough – 11th June…

Living Green: Growing Your Own Vegetables

We all know how tasty fresh vegetables are in meals and salads. However, no matter how well you seem to time your visits to the grocery store, finding the freshest of produce is mostly by sheer luck. Growing your own vegetables gives you a break from grocery store trips while ensuring that you…

What to grow on the allotment this season

With all the crocus and daffodils popping their little heads through the soil, it gets me thinking about my plan on what to grow in the coming season on the allotment. Even though this plan changes and develops beyond recognition, as the year goes on I still use it as my rough guide.When I first…

Preparing for 2014 – potato blight

We are in an area which suffers yearly with potato blight (Phytophthora infestans) and once you have had this terrible potato disease in your allotment or garden then it seems like it is with you permanently! There are still some copper based products that haven’t been taken off the market…

Family visit to Hyde Hall

Last weekend we headed down to Hyde Hall to visit Thompson and Morgan's Floral Fantasia. My children were very keen to see all the plants that I had planted, they had seen the pictures I had taken for the previous blog. We love visiting Hyde Hall, taking a picnic and spending the day together. The…

Thompson & Morgan Launches New 2019/20 Retail Seed Range

Zinnia Queeny Mixed', Watermelon Mini Love F1, Cosmos Apricot Lemonade' and Tomato Gourmandia F1 We're delighted to announce the launch of our new retail seed range for 2019/20 which will be available in garden centres from early July 2019. With continued focus on innovation and exciting new…

Gardening Tips – Tower Pots

Our decorative pot and support frame is specially designed to train plants into pillars of colour. It can be used as a half frame, for supporting plants to use as cut flowers, or as full frame for showy climbers such as Clematis. The Tower Pot is so versatile! Here are our gardening tips to get you…

Slug and Snail Control: The Ultimate Guide

Image: Canva The sight of tender shoots pushing through warming spring soil lifts the heart of every gardener. After weeks of anticipation the garden is finally moving. We rush to the greenhouse and start frantically sowing, gleefully admiring trays brimming with new seedlings. Hoes and rakes are…

BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT... GOOD NEWS FOR GARDENERS!

We are in the midst of somewhat dark and difficult times. Newspapers, social media and television constantly reminding us of the troubles that loom uneasily around us. Every day seems like a battle. And yet, there is one battle that continues to fly beneath the radars of far too many of us; let…

Another Plant of the Year award for T&M?

Chelsea Flower Show entries – another Plant of the Year award for Thompson & Morgan?After last year’s exciting win at RHS Chelsea Flower Show with the spectacular foxglove ‘Illumination Pink’, Thompson & Morgan announces its contenders for this year’s Plant of…

Harry Cook – wildflower planting in our area

Update 30th July – see photos at the end of this post!Harry Cook, Thompson & Morgan trial panel member, and his wife Pat are members of It’s Your Neighbourhood with Loughborough in Bloom and look after the area called ‘The Green Belt’ around their house. Here Harry…

Choosing hedge plants to save funds!

Bare root hedge plants are a cost-effective way to create a boundaryImage: Thompson & Morgan Bare root plants are often far cheaper than potted plants. These young 'whips' establish quicker than more mature specimens and will soon catch up in size. Given the quantity of plants that are normally…

Fuchsia masterclass: best expert content

Standards like Fuchsia 'Angela' make a striking feature on doorsteps and patios. Image: NEW Fuchsia 'Angela' (Hardy) from Thompson & MorganIf you love fuchsias and want to fill your borders, hanging baskets, and patio containers with elegant flowers, we've scoured the internet to find the most…

We Love Chillies!

Dearest reader, Harrison (left), William (right). How do you do? Indeed, well. . . ! We are William and Harrison Scowsill, (28, 27). Perhaps like us, you also ogle and dream of acquiring interesting and rare varieties of plants and seeds from all corners of the globe whilst enjoying the catharsis…

Gluten-free tomato pizza

Gluten-free pizza Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 45 minsCook Time 10 minsTotal Time 55 mins Servings 4Calories 740 kcal Ingredients 1x2x3xPizza base ingredients2 tsp gluten-free baking powder2 tsp (heaped) golden caster sugar400 g gluten-free bread flower5 tbsp olive oil1 tsp salt1 tsp (heaped)…

New Spring Catalogue is ‘one-stop shop’ for gardeners

New look Spring Catalogue is ‘one-stop shop’ for gardenersThe Spring Catalogue 2013Biggest and Best YetThompson & Morgan’s Spring Catalogue has had a makeover! The new format promises to give customers a much wider choice than in previous catalogues.‘We’ve really…

Light up your garden with yellow: the colour of the year

Add a sunny pop of colour to your garden with yellow flowers Image: Arum Gold Label' from T&MThe colour of 2021, Pantone 'Illuminating' is a warm and vibrant yellow that brings with it the promise of better times. And what better way to celebrate our hope and optimism for the future than by…

News update from Thompson & Morgan

Alstromeria Holiday Valley, Alstromeria Spring Valley' and Alstromeria Times Valley' Further 'reveals' from our new Spring RangeWe've just released details and images of a number of new products that will feature in our Spring 2020 range. All three of the striking varieties in the new Summer…

Geraniums masterclass: best expert content

Ideal for borders, pots, baskets and window boxes, geraniums fill your garden with colourImage: Geranium 'Tall Dark and Handsome Hot Pink' from Thompson & MorganIf you love geraniums (pelargoniums) and want to grow your own from seed, cuttings or plug plants, we've scoured the internet to find…

Planting Bare Root Peonies

What a lovely day, a day out of the office and back to the Private Estate where I work as a Gardener. I have been here for about fourteen years and have seen the garden develop, hedges have been removed, planting changed, refreshed and new borders developed. It has been an unseasonable day for…

Horticultural Etiquette

Is there a code of horticultural etiquette? Since the recent RHS poll which revealed that one-fifth of gardeners discard of their snails by putting them over their neighbours fence, we have been thinking of other rules and regulations in the gardening world. 78% of those polled by the RHS said they…

T&M wins Grow Your Own magazine awards

We’re thrilled to have been voted the winner in FOUR categories of the Grow Your Own magazine awards for 2013. We’re particularly proud to have won Best Online Retailer. Knowing that we’re up against some pretty serious competition in the horticultural online marketplace, it…

Gardening with grasses

Hakonechloa macra and Ophiopogon combine to create this stunning borderImage: dogwooddays Do your borders lack colour, height and movement throughout the year? Professional garden designer Nic Wilson of dogwooddays recently redesigned the beds in her own back garden to striking effect. Her secret…

Petunia masterclass: best expert content

This climbing petunia has been trained up an obelisk to create a spectacular focal point Image: Petunia 'Tidal Wave Improved' from T&MHere you'll find the best expert content on raising petunia seeds or growing petunia plug plants. We've scoured the web to bring you insights from the experts…

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