Topic: thompson & morgan

[strawberry1]

what on earth has happened to this company? Customer service is absolutely dreadful, no-one answers cs phones or answers e mails. I have been waiting for an item for weeks, not plants and I am also trying to nurture some shockingly poor begonia plug plants. Really poor standards lately. I won`t be using this company again. Glossy catalogue but the company is awful, gone right downhill. Anyone else?

[Tee Gee]

I think they are one of the companies that has moved off shore ( Channel Islands) to cut their taxes,charge us more and like some of the others that have done this; buying in there produce from possibly the same supplier.

I haven't used them in years as they were tooo highly priced compared with others.

This year I have bought my plants from Parkers.

Now this was a company that got really bad press in the past, but the stuff I have bought from them over the last couple of years has been quite good.

I am on their" End of Season" list and I get offers of some very cheap stuff.

OK when I get it some of it is a bit tatty but if I get a pack of five plants for the regular price of one plant, then say I get two or three to survive then I consider this to be a bargain.

Because I know it is end of season stock I am prepared for some failures but on the whole I am generally quite happy with what I get.

So here are two companies who in the past were "chalk and cheese" and who now have changed their perspective but at least one has done something about it but sadly the other has got too greedy in my opinion

[Obelixx]

T&M has recently been bought out.  Lots of moans on the GW boards too.

It seems naming and shaming on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - whatever you use - tends to get a better response than individual and private emails and phone calls.

Crocus may seem expensive but they have very good customer service and good quality plants.   I like to buy my treasures at plant fairs and nurseries where I can talk to the grower or else order seed from places like Plant World, Seedaholic, Chiltern.......... as they give excellent info about sowing and after care.

[strawberry1]

I just got a response via facebook, I am hardly on there but worked out how to do a message. They said they have sent the gloves. Yes right!  They are sending a replacement, I live in hope. I never complained about the carp non stop begonias but will never buy anything from them again. Parkers looks excellent tee gee. Do you know, I get much better plants from ebay than T&M, just taken delivery of tremendous celeriac plugs after none of my seeds came up. They went straight in the ground this morning. There are several extremely good sellers on e bay and their seeds always germinate. The celeriac was from cloudgarden, I had the last set but am awaiting another 10 tomorrow or saturday, I hope they are as good

[Seacarrot]

T&M is still very my based in Ipswich.

It was taken over recently by a large equity group called https://www.bvg-group.co.uk/bvg-airflo-links.cfm

Take a peep at what other companies it owns. 

[johhnyco15]

my self have been lucky and had no problems this season or last i have ordered 20 fuscias  for the end of may so i hope they will be of good standard i have had problems with parkers in the past but this year was trouble free king was as normally fantastic as was dt brown and suttons ill let you know about my recent t&m order by the end of the month

[Seacarrot]

It's interesting, I've had mixed results from parkers.

And this year I placed my biggest seed order with kings and have had the most problems, including terrible germination and wrong seeds in a packet.

Last year I bought most of my seeds from T&M though an offer, (10 packets of seed for £1 each).
Last year year very few of my DT brown Sweetcorn came up.

I'm sure most companies  go to the same seed house for stock...... love to find out who though.

[johhnyco15]

It's interesting, I've had mixed results from parkers.

And this year I placed my biggest seed order with kings and have had the most problems, including terrible germination and wrong seeds in a packet.

Last year I bought most of my seeds from T&M though an offer, (10 packets of seed for £1 each).
Last year year very few of my DT brown Sweetcorn came up.

I'm sure most companies  go to the same seed house for stock...... love to find out who though.

funny you should say that two packets of sweetcorn lark from kings only 7 came up i may email them two packets of swift from last year from suttons 98% germination got incredible to set from wilcos  fingers crossed all my runner beans are fine 100% germination as carrots parsnips and cabbages beetroot in fact its just the sweetcorn that has proven a problem what trouble did you have getting to germinate

[Seacarrot]

It's interesting, I've had mixed results from parkers.

And this year I placed my biggest seed order with kings and have had the most problems, including terrible germination and wrong seeds in a packet.

Last year I bought most of my seeds from T&M though an offer, (10 packets of seed for £1 each).
Last year year very few of my DT brown Sweetcorn came up.

I'm sure most companies  go to the same seed house for stock...... love to find out who though.

funny you should say that two packets of sweetcorn lark from kings only 7 came up i may email them what trouble did you have getting to germinate?

HA Lark a Sweetcorn from Kings...!
About 10 of a 50 seed packet. Came up.
 Very poor Beetroot Germination, poor Cucumbers.... and no melons came up.

[johhnyco15]

think ill drop them a email tonight dont think ill be the only one  thanks for the info

[MervF]

I put in 18 seed of Kings Sweetcorn Sweet Nugget and 16 germinated within about a week.   I planted them out yesterday when they were about 9" high and good strong plants.   I have used Kings seeds for many years now and must admit I have had very few problems.

[johhnyco15]

I put in 18 seed of Kings Sweetcorn Sweet Nugget and 16 germinated within about a week.   I planted them out yesterday when they were about 9" high and good strong plants.   I have used Kings seeds for many years now and must admit I have had very few problems.

me neither i think there is a problem with the lark seeds they just dont seem to be viable

[Tee Gee]

funny you should say that two packets of sweetcorn lark from kings only 7 came up i may email them

I got 83% germination from Kings Lark (21 from 25 sown), and for the first time I saved some seed from last year. It was a cob that I had missed at harvest time and it dried on the plant I got 69% (17 from 25 sown)

Sowed the final 20 seed of Lark today for a later crop.

A few years ago I had problems with Kings Sweet Corn and they tried to blame the poor germination on me saying their seeds are tested for viability. Then I told them that I had bought two varieties at the same time and I got excellent germination 90%+ so how could it be my fault?  they relented and sent me another packet!

my self have been lucky and had no problems this season or last i have ordered 20 fuscias  for the end of may so i hope they will be of good standard i have had problems with parkers in the past

I don't think you will have a problem with your Fuchsia I bought three collections and got a freebie collection as well.

This is what I bought:

Fuchsia Giant Trailing Collection Pack Size 6

Fuchsia Hardy Collection Pack Size 30

Fuchsia RHS Award Winning Collection Pack Size 30

Lily Oriental Mixed Pack Size 8 - FREE!

Fuchsia Trailing Mixed Pack Size 12 - FREE!

78 Fuchsia + 8 Lilies



This is how they looked half an hour ago:

6 Giants:



The Hardy Collection:



The RHS Collection



The Freebies



I have had them about a month now!

When I get rid of all the plants currently in my heated greenhouse destined for the allotment I will pot them up and give them some space. Then I will sell about 20% of them and get my money back so effectively I will have a collection of 20 Varieties basically FOC


This is the varieties I will have:

Annabel
Bella Rosella
Dancing Flame
Dark Eyes
Deep Purple
Delta Sarah
Dollar Princess
Garden News
Happy Wedding Day
Hawkshead
Heidi Anne
Holly's Beauty
Marinka
Orange King
Pink Galore
Quasar
Snowburner
Snowcap
Swing Time
Voodoo
White King

[squeezyjohn]

The Real Seed Catalogue is still my favourite company and I get as much from them as I can as the germination rates are amazing compared to any of the big names.  Everything they sell is true breeding too so you can keep your own seeds.  Brown Envelope seeds based in Ireland are just as good too with the same ethos.

I keep my own peas and beans, squashes, tomatoes and onions etc. but I have to admit that I haven't yet got round to saving seeds from some of the tougher plants like carrots and brassicas that are likely to cross breed with everything for miles around!

T&M never had enough seeds in the packet for me, especially with the rarer stuff, and I only occasionally get stuff from Suttons when it's a variety I can't find anywhere else.  This year I bought Sutton's Trinidad Perfume chilis and there were 5 seeds in the packet, only 2 germinated and only one of those has made it to a decent sized plant!  Absolute rip off!

I agree King's are good ... as are Chiltern Seeds.

[SMP1704]

I'm a recent convert to Parker's and also find Ebay plant sellers to be excellent.  Real seeds, Chiltern and Wilkos for me!

[winecap]

I have to say I've been very happy with T&M and the customer service has been excellent when there has been a problem. I got three packets of Sweetcorn Butterscotch at £1 /packet with 80 seeds in total. Of those I had 73 come up well and a couple of weak seedlings which I discarded. I wont complain at that.
I did complain recently about one of their offers of 72 plug plants - 6 each of 12 varieties. They were mostly good, but the delphiniums were very yellow and 3 out of six were dead almost immediately. They responded by sending another complete pack of 72 plants, which seemed excessively generous to me. I think there will always be the occasional mistake, so a good response when something is wrong is the most important thing for me.

[sparrow]

I've had more problems with T&M than with any other supplier, but on the plus side they have always sorted each issue out really quickly. I had an issue with some monster Charlotte spuds earlier this year and a repeat order was sent out as soon as I contacted them. I also had some plug plants from them this year and they have been great - strong root systems and they've grown on really well.

[strawberry1]

I received my gloves from T&M today, after a very frustrating time, trying to get a response. Thanks to obelixx, I sent a facebook message and got a pretty instant reply 

Someone mentioned ebay, I received two sets of plugs today and yesterday and they are fab, two different sellers. I have never had bad plants or seeds from any seller on ebay. I received plugs from brookside nursery today and they are superb and so were the last ones from them

DT Brown seeds, parsnip germination has been terrible and no celeriac germination and no visible spring onion germination from their freebies

I had better luck with some old duncan cabbage seeds from 2014

[johhnyco15]

funny you should say that two packets of sweetcorn lark from kings only 7 came up i may email them

I got 83% germination from Kings Lark (21 from 25 sown), and for the first time I saved some seed from last year. It was a cob that I had missed at harvest time and it dried on the plant I got 69% (17 from 25 sown)

Sowed the final 20 seed of Lark today for a later crop.

A few years ago I had problems with Kings Sweet Corn and they tried to blame the poor germination on me saying their seeds are tested for viability. Then I told them that I had bought two varieties at the same time and I got excellent germination 90%+ so how could it be my fault?  they relented and sent me another packet!

my self have been lucky and had no problems this season or last i have ordered 20 fuscias  for the end of may so i hope they will be of good standard i have had problems with parkers in the past

I don't think you will have a problem with your Fuchsia I bought three collections and got a freebie collection as well.

This is what I bought:

Fuchsia Giant Trailing Collection Pack Size 6

Fuchsia Hardy Collection Pack Size 30

Fuchsia RHS Award Winning Collection Pack Size 30

Lily Oriental Mixed Pack Size 8 - FREE!

Fuchsia Trailing Mixed Pack Size 12 - FREE!

78 Fuchsia + 8 Lilies



This is how they looked half an hour ago:

6 Giants:



The Hardy Collection:



The RHS Collection



The Freebies



I have had them about a month now!

When I get rid of all the plants currently in my heated greenhouse destined for the allotment I will pot them up and give them some space. Then I will sell about 20% of them and get my money back so effectively I will have a collection of 20 Varieties basically FOC


This is the varieties I will have:

Annabel
Bella Rosella
Dancing Flame
Dark Eyes
Deep Purple
Delta Sarah
Dollar Princess
Garden News
Happy Wedding Day
Hawkshead
Heidi Anne
Holly's Beauty
Marinka
Orange King
Pink Galore
Quasar
Snowburner
Snowcap
Swing Time
Voodoo
White King

indeed tg got an email today saying the same as you basically its my fault i pointed out that the suttons swift planted at the same time same soil same greenhouse 98% germination and yes they are sending me another packet as  my gardening skills are so  inadequate

[strawberry1]

crocus now. Not the quality because their plants are really good. It`s the time they take, two weeks for one plant to arrive, last order and now I am waiting for almost £200 of goods to arrive, it says `stock allocated` and this only contains one plant, all the rest are various planters. 12 days and counting, they are incredibly slow. Frustrating in fact