LATE SPRING 2014

We have exclusively partnered with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to support its “give nature a home” campaign.

The society is offering tips and advice to inspire people to create a “nature-friendly” environment in their own back garden. To help, Mr Fothergill’s and the RSPB have produced a range of jointly branded flower seed packs, collections and mixes that have been hand picked by the RSPB based on each plant’s ability to attract birds, bees and butterflies.

Each packet features a wildlife icon to indicate what it attracts. It also gives further advice on growing a wildlife friendly garden.

Prices range from £2.95 to £6.95 and ten per cent from every sale is donated to the RSPB. The range consists of 16 single variety packs; three ‘4 in 1’ collections and three seed mixes.

Welcome to our late-Spring edition of Seed Matters. It’s been an incredibly busy time at Mr Fothergill’s HQ recently and in this issue you’ll find out why. We’ve taken a break from our usual Seed Matters content to tell you about all of the new and exciting lines we’ve produced for the 2015 season. Our “new season” range was launched earlier this month to our sales team and the garden retail trade, and it will be available for delivery from August 2014.

For your chance to win a fully stocked display stand of our

new RSPB seed range (worth over £900)

see page 4

Giving nature a home

Introduction

Our Seed Cubes are proving to be a very popular product, not just with our retail partners and customers, but also with industry bodies. Each year the RHS selects its “RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year”. This year 17 products have been shortlisted and our Seed Cube is one of them! The winner will be announced on 20 May, the first day of the Chelsea Flower Show.

It’s not just the RHS which has recognised our Seed Cubes, weekly consumer magazine Garden News has also voted it “Best Value Buy product”.

Our Seed Cubes are available in four single colour mini boxes; yellow, red, blue and white, and are a great way to attract bees and butterflies. They retail at £2.99 or two for £5.

For more information visit www.mr-fothergills.co.uk

Is our Seed Cube your product of the year?

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Even the most experienced of gardeners can be daunted by the challenges of designing flower borders from seed, particularly when such a wide choice is available. To help overcome this we have teamed up with young designer, printmaker and illustrator, Hannah McVickar, to produce three inspiring but easy to follow planting plans.

The Johnsons’ Designer Garden collections consist of three designs, Cottage Garden

Flowers; Fragrant and Cut Flowers; and Wildlife Attracting Flowers. Each collection contains 12 varieties and comes in a beautifully illustrated box along with growing instructions and the all important planting plan. The three collections come in a compact counter top display unit containing eight boxes.

The RRP of each collection is £9.99 making it a very economical way to grow stunning displays – and makes the perfect gift!

Challenging borders are a thing of the past with Johnsons’ Designer Garden collections

Little Gardeners cress kit

Fresh flavours from the garden to the kitchen with Sarah Raven

Following the success of Johnsons’ Sarah Raven flower seed ranges, 2015 will see the launch of a new Sarah Raven vegetable range.

The collection incorporates Sarah’s expert knowledge on all things grown, cut and eaten from the garden. It also reflects her experiences in her Perch Hill garden in Sussex, where she runs cooking courses that stress the importance of “grow-your-own” cooking.

The Sarah Raven Kitchen Garden range consists of 16 collections under four different themes; Classic, Productive, Gourmet and Patio & Borders. Each collection, which consists of six packets, RRPs at £5.99.

Johnsons’ Little Gardeners range, aimed at three to eleven year olds, makes gardening not only fun but educational, letting young gardeners get their hands dirty whilst still learning.

The bright and appealing self contained kit contains a garden scene with cut out characters so that children can have fun even when just assembling the box. It then contains cress seed, a plastic tray and a 100 per cent recycled growing mat enabling them to grow their own cress garden.

The Little Gardeners cress kits, worth £3.99, are supplied in shelf ready outers of eight but can also be displayed on our Little Gardeners metal stand or your shop fixture hooks.

3 sim

ple steps...

Easy sow mats for patio pots

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Mixed Lettuce Leaves

No mess or fuss

Easy to use

Ready to pick in 4 weeks

Season long supply

3x20cmmats

For more information visit www.mr-fothergills.co.uk

Gardening needn’t be limited to those with endless gardens and space. More and more gardeners with smaller patches, or simply just a patio or a balcony are seeing the benefits of growing in pots. Container growing is versatile, mobile, easy to look after, and opens up “grow your own” gardening to a whole new audience.

The HTA has been championing growing in pots with its “It Starts with a Pot” campaign. In light of this we have launched a new range of Pot Toppers to make container growing easier than ever. Our Pot Toppers are 20cm presown mats available in four of the most popular herbs, and three salad leaf mixes. Each pack, retailing at £3.49, contains three pre-sown mats.

When simply placed on top of compost in a suitable container, lightly covered and watered, each mat will provide a ready supply of herbs and salad in just four weeks.

The Pot Topper packs are designed to appeal to new gardeners and come on a Hot Spot

stand with a small footprint, making it easy to be displayed in high traffic areas where pots and containers are on sale.

Gardening’s gone to pot!

2015 – the year of the SunflowerAn initiative to increase domestic plant sales has awarded the Sunflower the title of the European Plant of the Year for 2015.

The year of the Sunflower is a Europe wide promotion that is being orchestrated by the Fleuroselect Home Garden Association, the international Organisation for the Ornamental Plants Industry, and its members.

This is the first in a series of what is to be an annual European accolade to promote specific plant groups to consumers. Cosmos and Tomatoes have been scheduled for the title for 2016.

Sunflowers are very quick and easy to grow. Not only do they come in an array of different sizes and colours but they also

have significant benefits for nature. They are fantastic for wildlife by providing pollen and nectar for insects and seeds for birds.

To help champion the Sunflower, we have added two new varieties to our collections. The Mr Fothergill’s range will include Sunflower Magic Roundabout F1 and Johnsons will gain Sunflower Solar Power F1. These new additions mean that we now have an impressive total of 28 varieties for customers to choose from.

It just so happens that Tracy Collacott, our technical manager, is one of the Fleuroselect committee member and she is actively involved in Fleuroselect’s work.

Look out for the year of the Sunflower logo appearing on displays soon!

GROWING BRANDS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

General Enquiries: 01638 751161

Fax: 01638 554085

Email: sales@mr-fothergills.co.uk

www.mr-fothergills-trade.com www.johnsons-trade.comMr Fothergill’s Seeds Ltd, Gazeley Road, Kentford, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 7QB

Microgreens are cropping up everywhere – from restaurants to TV programmes – and are fast becoming the new trend in cooking as they can easily add a blast of flavour, fragrance and colour to dishes.

Johnsons’ has chosen eight of the best vegetable varieties and created microgreen versions in a great value, re-usable growing tray. Some of the varieties available include basil, beetroot, coriander and rocket. The seeds can be grown all year round and some varieties will be ready to pick within just two weeks.

The seeds and trays are designed to be versatile and can be displayed on shelves, on a counter top or on the side of existing seed stands.

Grow your own micro nutrition

givingnaturea home

To celebrate the ongoing success and popularity of our Seed Cubes, in the last issue of Seed Matters we gave ten lucky readers the chance to win an outer of the product.

The winners were

Ansells Garden Centre

Brechin Castle Garden Centre

Brechin Hardware Store

Buckels Nursery Garden Centre

Clockhouse Garden Centre

Mc Neill DIY

Millbrook Garden Centre

Montrose Hardware Store

North Walsham Garden Centre

Raglan Garden Centre

Congratulations to all of our winners! A free Seed Cube outer will be on its way to you.

Everyone at Mr Fothergill’s is very excited about our partnership with the RSPB. To help celebrate this and to stress the importance of the RSPB’s “give nature a home” campaign, we are giving you the chance to win a fully stocked display stand of our new RSPB seed range (worth over £900 at RRP).

To enter simply tell us what RSPB stands for.

Email your answer to sm@mr-fothergills.co.uk by 1st June 2014.

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

Good luck!

Spring Seed Matters’ Competition WinnerCompetition