New product developments from the specialists at Thompson & Morgan are paving the way for the easiest ever route to fresh home grown produce.
Following success with its groundbreaking Tomtato®, a hand grafted plant producing both potatoes and tomatoes, T&M has launched Egg & Chips®, a world first in duo grafting. Gardeners can now grow aubergines and potatoes on the same plant. What’s more the potato ‘root stock’ gives the aubergine part the extra energy needed to crop successfully under UK conditions. You don’t need a greenhouse to grow Egg & Chips®, a large pot on a sunny patio will produce perfect plants. £14.99 for one Egg & Chips®, £19.99 for two.
Changes in EU regulation mean that for the first time in a long time, Thompson & Morgan is now able to offer mixed vegetable seed varieties in the same packet, creating the easiest route to success on the veg patch and the longest harvest with no need for successional sowing.
The All Season Collections take the hard work out of crop planning. Each is made up of several toptasting and top-performing F1 varieties that can be sown in one hit, but will crop at different times to give a harvest window of up to 36 weeks. The All Season Leek Collection for example, offers a nine month harvest from a single sowing of three trusted varieties – Lincoln, Oarsman and Below Zero. The collections have been based around the most popular crops grown by British gardeners, including peas, beans, broccoli, sweet corn and cabbage. The collections are the perfect solution for novice gardeners and those without the time (or skills!) for detailed crop planning at the start of the season.
Stand out vegetable seed introductions for the season include Tomato Mountain Magic and Pea Terrain, exclusive to Thompson & Morgan. The T&M trials team was stunned at the results of new Pea Terrain in 2015 and are heralding the variety as the most exciting introduction since the launch of existing bestseller Hursts Green Shaft. Paul Hansord said: “We've been truly amazed at the outstanding performance of this powerhouse pea. Yield, pod quality and taste - Pea Terrain couldn't be beaten in our 2015 trials, but most impressive was the resistance to both downy and powdery mildew. In a field surrounded by a dozen infected varieties, only Terrain stood clean and green, making it the best pea for late harvesting. A final sowing on 31st July lead to a mildew free harvest at the end of October. Plants would have kept going if it had not been for a frost.” 99p for 300 seeds
Similarly, Tomato Mountain Magic has shown full resistance to all blight strains currently prevailing in the UK, making it the best option for outdoor growing and late cropping. Thompson & Morgan is so impressed with the performance and flavour of the new variety, it is championing Mountain Magic as its Vegetable of the Year for 2016. £3.99 for five seeds or £9.99 for five plug plants
Trial results and customer feedback for Potato Jazzy have been so impressive it now comes with a Double Money Back guarantee if T&M customers fail to produce 35 potatoes or more from a single tuber grown in an 8litre growing bag. This new growing method was hit upon during T&M technical trials, and was found to increase yields by up to 186 per cent. The growing concept really opens up potato growing to everyone. All you need is a sunny doorstep or deep window ledge to produce a worthy home-grown crop. Pricing for Jazzy starts at £3.99
Seed varieties mentioned are available from selected garden centres now. All are available for order at www.thompson-morgan.com