Blog Archives

Bridge Farm Plants is back open for 2022!

28/2/2022

Spread the news: Bridge Farm Plants is back in action at the Corn Craft site in Monks Eleigh!

We are open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm, including bank holidays.

As ever we will be offering a wide range of garden plants, from favourites to the harder-to-find, and if we don’t have it in stock we can probably get it for you!

We have lots of lovely early colour from primroses, pansies, ranunculus, anemones, hellebores and wonderfully fragrant wallflowers, with the alpines well worth a look at!

Our great choice of potted bulbs includes some new-to-us Alliums, alongside dwarf tulips and daffodils, grape hyacinths, English bluebells, frilillaries and more.

If you have bigger spaces to fill look out for spring-flowering shrubs including magnolias, rhododendrons, camelias, forsythias and bridal wreath.

The shade selection is looking particularly colourful with early flowering perennials joining the ferns.

Our range of cottage garden perennials will get added to in the coming weeks, but there are already plenty of pickings for March.

Other plants in stock now include freshly potted roses, trees and fruit bushes, as well as herbs, lavenders, climbers and small displays of grasses and conifers.

Spring Cheer packs are back!

27/2/2022

Available exclusively online from our supplier nursery Katie's Garden! Get over £40 of seasonal bedding & bulbs for just £30!

Cheer up your beds, borders, pots & containers. Select from spring bedding, spring bulbs, a mix of both, or a selection of potted Alliums.

Collect from us at Bridge Farm Plants or have them delivered to your door for no extra charge - or to the door of a friend or loved one if they live in our delivery area.

Plants you could receive include primroses, wallflowers, pansies, violas, daffodils, tulips, alliums, muscari and many others. Many are bee-friendly and will be much appreciated by pollinators at a time when there is not much for them to choose from.

Click to order online

It's nearly time!

26/2/2022

We re-open at Monks Eleigh on Tuesday 1st March!

Catherine and Gill have been busy gathering up some of the finest plants at the Katie’s Garden nursery ready for our first deliveries early next week.

We will have lots of lovely early colour from primroses, pansies, alpines, anemones, hellebores and wonderfully fragrant wallflowers, alongside selections of potted spring bulbs, shrubs, cottage garden perennials, roses, climbers, herbs, lavenders and more.

We might even find room for a customer request or two – place your orders through the Katie’s Garden website here and select to collect from Bridge Farm Plants, or drop us an email here with your requests!

We look forward to seeing you very soon – we will be open every day 10am-5pm.

Seeds of success! Seed growing tips

25/2/2022

Although we do not stock seeds at our Monks Eleigh nursery you can order them through our supplier, Katie's Garden, and select to collect from us.

Including annuals, perennials, vegetables, salads and herbs, all easy-grow varieties from Suffolk's own Thompson & Morgan!

Click to order seeds

SEED GROWING ADVICE

Always use new or thoroughly cleaned seed trays and cells to avoid spread of disease. You can also use recycled items such as yogurt pots and ready-meal trays - remember to add drainage holes.

Use a seed or multipurpose compost and use your hands to elimate any lumps so you get a fine crumb texture.

Once seed trays/cells are filled firm them down gently then soak them in water before sowing. Soil should be moist but not sodden when sowing seeds

Different seeds have different needs so make sure you read the information on the seed packet for advice on how densely to sow and what temperatures are needed (generally between 16-21c).

Some seeds need light to germinate so don’t cover these with compost - the seed packet will tell you if they should be scattered on the soil surface rather than buried.

If you don’t have a heated bench and only have a small number of pots then a windowsill can work very well. Make sure you cover your pot with a transparent plastic bag kept in place with a rubber band. Remove the bag once seedlings appear.

Water seed trays and cells from below - especially if using a heated bench - to avoid build up of conditions that can cause damping off*. This is especially important if you are using a peat-free compost. Sit them in trays of water for about 30 minutes, rather than watering from above using watering cans.

*"Damping off" is a fungal problem causing seedlings to collapse and die. It can be caused by humid conditions as well as from sowing too densely.

Dealing with storm-damaged plants

23/2/2022

If any of your plants have suffered damaged shoots, stems or branches, cut back below the damage and immediately above a "joint".

This could be to just above a leaf, above a side shoot, or you might just be looking for a subtle bulged ring around the stem.

This is the best way to encourage healthy regrowth.

If any plants have been blown out of the ground, treat them like a fresh planting.

Dig clear any detached roots from the ground to make a decent sized planting hole.

You might want to add root builders such as bonemeal or micorrhizal fungi.

Place the plant and backfill the hole with composts or manures, firm in and water well.

The more root has been lost the more top growth you will need to trim back, ie if half the root system has broken away you should ideally cut the plant by half; if there is no real damage to the roots a light trim on top should suffice.

Keep watering your plant for the next few weeks and hopefully it should re-establish.

If any fences have blown down with climbers attached, it should not harm the climbers if you have to cut them back, although you might lose this years' flowers.

"Storm-proof" hedging - excellent for wildlife!

22/2/2022

If Dudley, Eunice or Franklin gave your fences a battering, this could be the perfect opportunity to plant a hedge in their place.

Hedges fare much better in high winds, and they are fantastic for wildlife too.

Because they slow the wind rather than blocking it - like solid fences do - they are much less likely to get blown over.

Their role as natural windbreaks makes them brilliant for butterflies and other little insects that struggle to fly in exposed areas (and of course makes it nicer for you to sit out in your garden too).

Hedges can provide habitat for hedgehogs, birds and myriad other creatures, as well as food for all sorts of wildlife from their leaves, flowers and berries.

Unless you want the perfect geometric privet hedge, you should only need to trim once a year, and your hedge could last you a lifetime – not bad compared with the maintenance and replacement needed by wooden fences.

Plant now, and your young hedging plants should be settled in before any hot, dry weather we might get in summer.

We do not have the space to stock hedging plants at Monks Eleigh but you can order through us or our supplier nursery, Katie's Garden Plant Centre, for collection from us or for free local home delivery.

Take a look at the Katie's Garden online shop. If you have any requests please get them in sooner rather than later as hedging season ends in March!

Click to order hedging

Slug-Proof Gardening Talk

8/2/2022

'Stop That Snail!'

Our very own Catherine McMillan and her Down to Earth co-presenter Rob Dunger will be at Acton Garden Club this Thursday evening with their talk on Slug & Snail-Proof Gardening.

Come and get top tips on the various ways to thwart our slimy foes that don’t involve messing around with traps and barriers!

The talk starts at 7.30pm in Acton Village Hall (behind the Crown pub), CO10 0AT.

A small selection of slug-proof plants will be available for purchase afterwards!

Bridge Farm Plants is back open for 2022!

Spring Cheer packs are back!

It's nearly time!

Seeds of success! Seed growing tips

SEED GROWING ADVICE

Dealing with storm-damaged plants

"Storm-proof" hedging - excellent for wildlife!

Slug-Proof Gardening Talk

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