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…
April is here, British Summer Time has kicked in, lighter mornings, longer days to spend in the garden and greenhouse after work. Hooray! More time with my gardening gloves on! So at my 'Office' job at T&M, (when I'm not doing my dirty job!) I speak to customers and help with any Horticultural…
Edible flowers can make a useful and delightful addition to any garden – whether big, small and practical or pretty – they can help boost any garden in question. Edible flowers can be used in a variety of ways and grow easily and quickly for a fast harvest.I decided to use an old tin…
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…
Waste not, want not - the frugal gardener's mantra. Image source: Ondacaracola Savvy gardeners are frugal gardeners for whom 'waste' is a dirty word. Here we present some top tips from growers with a passion for repurposing, reusing, and recycling - ways to save money and the environment while…
Grow your own stunning petunias from seed this yearImage: Petunia 'Mirage White' F1 Hybrid from Thompson & Morgan There's a real sense of satisfaction in growing your own show-stopping display of petunias from seed. And the good news is that sowing petunia seeds isn't difficult at all. Follow…
Popular and easy to grow, start your own mini orchard with apple treesImage: Apple Braeburn' from Thompson & MorganHere's where you'll find our collection of the best expert content on growing apple trees. If you love to grow apples for cooking or eating, these garden bloggers, YouTubers and…
The peony is a famed ornamental flowering plant in the genus Paeonia. Their stunning, voluminous blooms are on show for a short season each year running from late spring through to early summer. They've long been a favourite of many a gardener and the best floristry studios where they feature…
There are few plant groups that are as diverse as the fuchsia. There is a lovely range of hardy fuchsias in the market, many with different colour foliage and form.Fuchsia Genii is a more unusual fuchsia variety, with distinctive yellow foliage. The flowers have inky blue petals backed by magenta…
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…
Guest blogger Jane Scorer has gardened the same half acre plot for over 30 years and has opened her garden for the NGS (Yellow Book) scheme. She has an RHS qualification, but feels that her main qualification is the years she has spent with her hands in the soil.Variegation across the…
Here at Thompson & Morgan we strive to excel in customer service, to be able to provide you with top quality products, expert advice and a no fuss approach to gardening. That being said, we know that there is always room for improvement and this year we have made a few changes and added new…
Plants with a split personalityDid you know that there are a few plants out there with some surprising properties, many of which you’d have no idea about at first glance!Name:French MarigoldsDescription:Want to know the secret of growing bumper crops of tomatoes? Well, by growing African or…
Pelargonium cuttings are easy to take and don't require special equipment Image: 682A IA/Shutterstock Taking cuttings is an easy way to get more of your favourite pelargoniums. Try propagating one of your own special plants or ask a friend if you can take a cutting from theirs, if they have a…
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…
Tomatoes are one of the easiest things to grow with childrenImage source: dogwooddays Children love watching plants grow - from that miraculous moment when a tiny seed's first leaves emerge from the ground - to enjoying the flowers and fruits that appear later in the season. Professional garden…
Here is customer trial panel member Stephen Hackett’s profile – we’ll feature updates from his garden in the coming months.Stephen HackettInspirationsMy earliest gardening memories are of helping my dad in his big gumboots, of running wild in my great aunt’s huge (or so it…
After languishing for a while outside garden fashion, dahlias are suddenly being recognised again for their very many useful attributes. Long in flower (June to early December in a sheltered spot), easy to grow, invaluable in the summer border, a desirable cut flower ' the list goes on! They offer…
Companion planting has been around for a long time and is a really good way of using Mother Nature to deter pests and improve pollination.MonocultureWe’ve put together a Companion Planting Guide which you can find on the Thompson & Morgan website and use to help you plan your vegetable…
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…
Raspberry ‘Ruby Beauty’™ is an innovative concept that allows you to grow raspberries on your patio. This space saving raspberry retains its sweet flavour, which we’ve come to expect from modern varieties, but you no longer need a big garden to accommodate rows of towering…
In December 2012 I wrote my first blog for Thompson & Morgan, all about my first year as a grower of vegetables. Time has passed by rapidly and I have learnt so much in the past 18 months as a beginner gardener. I thought it was time to tell you more about what I have been up too.Season two…
Here’s a sneak peek of some new varieties for 2013 – get the inside story here first!Lisianthus ‘Summer Blue Rose’Summer Blue RosesAs the world battles to create the perfect blue rose, we’ve been a bit cheeky and devised the new blue summer rose!This gorgeous…
Homegrown strawberries taste better than anything you can buy in a supermarket Image: Strawberry Vibrant' from Thompson & MorganIf you like growing delicious strawberries we're delighted to bring you a collection of the best advice from the internet. These bloggers, YouTubers and Instagrammers…
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…
In this gardening blog post Geoff Stonebanks writes about his gardening experiences on the south coast of England and becoming a member of Thompson & Morgan’s customer trial panel.I’m Geoff Stonebanks, fast approaching my 60th birthday and retired now with my garden in Sussex for 9…
As what would have been my open garden season, draws to a close, I can look back on a very different summer here at Driftwood. Considering the diversity of the weather we've experienced here in Seaford, ranging from extreme heat, gale-force winds through to torrential rain, I am quite amazed that…
In my second ‘make a change to your plant choices’ article I’ll be showing you some superb varieties that have the edge of other plants and vegetables in our range.Runner Bean Moonlight – self-fertile beansGrow Runner Bean Moonlight, not Lady DiWhy?Bad weather and…
World exclusive TomTato®Harvest potatoes AND tomatoes from the same plantThompson & Morgan announces another major horticultural breakthrough. Specially hand-grafted plants producing potatoes AND tomatoes are now available to UK home gardeners for the first time.More than 500 sweet and juicy…
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…
A few small changes can make a big difference Image: Garden Ninja We're flooding the planet with plastic, and there's currently a huge focus on how much ends up in our oceans. But as gardeners, what can we do about it? Traditionally, plant care and propagation have always relied heavily on plastic…
A vibrant display of hanging baskets can make your garden in summer pop!Image: Nurserymans Choice Hanging Basket Mixed Collection from T&M A recent Thompson & Morgan survey has revealed some surprising habits, when it comes to summer hanging baskets. Love them or loathe them, nothing sets…
I have always been a fan of over the top, in your face bedding displays and every year I plant out hundreds of plants in beds, pots and baskets. Over the last few years, due to work commitments, I have been finding the up keep a bit difficult.Alstroemeria ‘Planet Mix’Last year I planted…
Gertrude Jekyll, the influential garden designer, plants woman and artist, once said that 'The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies. ' For myself, like many gardeners, this is profoundly true. Over the years, that love has almost become an obsession that shows no sign of abating.…
Water lilies are quintessential deep water pond plantsImage: Water Lily (White) from Thompson & Morgan Whether you want to attract wildlife to your garden or create a unique focal point, a pond is a great way to introduce a whole new range of plants to your outdoor space. Here are some of the…
Moving house in the middle of the growing season isn’t ideal timing for a keen gardener! Knowing back in March that I’d be relocating in June, I reluctantly held back on my usual flurry of spring seed sowing, concentrating only on small batches of those plants that I just couldn’t…
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