All Melcourt Garden & Landscape products are tested continually. These pictures show our recently launched SoilAssociation approved SylvaGrow® peat-free planter for organic growing doing its stuff brilliantly. Left to right: herbs one month after planting, strawberries full of tasty promise, and peas, 29 days after sowing which will soon be good enough - to eat!(more)
An important event in the diaries of both politicians and business leaders, the March release of The Parliamentary Review sees the document highlight the best practice of organisations across the private and public sectors, sharingsome of the most exciting and forward-thinking work that has occurred in the country over the last year. The Review is edited by former minister The Rt Hon David Curry. Melcourt Industries are the UK's leading manufacturer...(more)
We've been notified of some possible power outages this week as work is undertaken to improve the local electricity distribution network. This might affect your ability to contact us and our ability to deal with emails quickly. There could be an outage today and again on Thursday 4th April, both for indeterminate periods. We'll be diverting the land line to a mobile but this will restrict the number of calls we...(more)
SylvaGrow® has been a consistently high-scoring compost in Gardening Which? trials since its launch, whilst SylvaGrow® with added John Innes is regularly among the top-scoring peat-free composts for sowing seeds and raising young plants in their annual trials.* “There’s a commonly held but mistaken view that peat-free composts don’t produce the same results as peat-based products,” says Melcourt Technical Director Catherine Dawson. “These and other independent tests conducted over the years...(more)
We were delighted to welcome MP for the Cotswolds Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown to unveil our new Royal Warrant plaque on Friday 1st March. Melcourt was awarded a Royal Warrant from HRH the Prince of Wales for the supply of peat-free organic growing media last year and Friday’s unveiling by Sir Geoffrey was a fitting celebration. In front of assembled staff Managing Director Andy Chalmers welcomed Sir Geoffrey and gave a short resume...(more)
If you live in the Horsham area try to make time to visit the 'Growing Together' event at Kinder Living Home Show organised by Friends of Horsham Park on 2nd March. The event includes talks and workshops with proceeds from many of the activities going to Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice. One of the talks will be given by Melcourt’s very own Senior Technical Sales Manager Neil Grey in partnership with...(more)
We were delighted to receive the picture above from Liz Steele, Planting coordinator for Nailsworth in Bloom, not least because it reminds us that while winter drags on, spring and summer and all the colour that they bring, will surely follow. The plants in this astonishing display were grown in SylvaGrow® and are a credit to those who grew and nurtured them Stunning as the piano and chess set is, we...(more)
Even with the snow on arrival and departure it was most gratifying to attend the closing exhibition at the GCA Annual Conference yesterday. There was a huge amount of interest in the new SylvaGrow® Planter for Organic Growing: the UK's first peat-free, Soil Association Approved growing bag which is of course also endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society. Perhaps more important for us was the enthusiasm for our entire range of peat-free products...(more)
Ladies and gentlemen we give you: the very first pallet load of our new SylvaGrow Planter for Organic growing! Full production will be underway soon of this, the UK’s first Soil Association approved peat-free growing bag. Please talk to your sales contact if you would like to stock some or see a sample. (more)
You may remember that back in October we posted about the expansion of our production site near Tetbury and that work had begun to transform a large area of scrubland into useful production space. We are pleased to let you know that the area has been transformed and it dramatically improves our ability to meet ever increasing demand for our products. You might recall that the project was somewhat delayed by...(more)
We reported earlier in the year (see News June 2018) click here about Mark Ridsill-Smith’s mission to spread the word about the joys of urban container gardening and food production. He recently wrote: I just wanted to drop you a line to report back on how we used your very generous donation of SylvaGrow compost this year. We had a launch event (where people found out about us and sowed pea shoots in...(more)
Our new stockists catalogue and catalogue for builders merchants are pack full of new products including the SylvaGrow peat-free planter for organic growing which is a Soil Association approved first for UK gardeners an entirely new range of Natural Choice sustainable decorative aggregates You can download the Stockists Catalogue (designed primarily for garden centres and retail nurseries) here and the one for builders merchants here. We hope you'll find lots of interest,...(more)
.....we hope it’s the same for you. 2018 has been an eventful one for Melcourt: • record sales in this and previous years have led to significant investment in new plant and machinery to increase production capacity. • new products like SylvaGrow® Farmyard Manure were successfully launched and others, like the Sylvagrow® Peat-free Planter for Organic Growing were developed. More details on the planter to follow but please note that it...(more)
We're looking forward to seeing friends old and new at GroSouth tomorrow. There is so much happening in horticulture just now and, of course, the #peat-free clock is ticking. Come and see us on stand 40. We hope to see you tomorrow but in the meantime, catch up with our latest copy of growersolutions by clicking on the image(more)
Work is going on at a pace to transform a large area of scrubland at our production facility near Tetbury into useful production space. In doing so we've tried hard to work with nature - which explains the presence of newt fences in both pictures. In addition we've preserved the badger setts in the banking which surrounds the new area. The investment in expanded production space is a direct result of continuing high -...(more)
Speakers Sam Gallivan, of the RHS, Neil Bragg and Paul Alexander of Bulrush Horticulture, chair for the day and collection holder Jim Marshall and Melcourt’s Catherine Dawson. Below, Sam Gallivan demonstrating the RHS use of Melcourt SylvaMix Around 30 Plant Heritage collection holders attended a Growing Media Workshop at RHS Wisley earlier this week organised by Plant Heritage and collection holder Jim Marshall. Melcourt were delighted to be invited to speak...(more)
If you're anywhere near Bussage in Gloucestershire this week-end watch out for bears: there will be lots of them - mostly hiding in the woods. The hunt is taking place to raise funds for the Bussage Primary School PTA which in turn supports the work of the village school. We've been delighted to support the event by sponsoring the printing of the programme. So, we 've seen the course and can...(more)
Come and find out more @Glee_Birmingham Stand 7K19(more)
We reported in early June that Bury St Edmunds in Bloom is undertaking a trial to see if they can remove peat from their hanging basket displays. We were delighted to sponsor the trial and even more delighted to see that so far there is no difference in performance between the 170 Sylvamix hanging baskets and the peat-based ones. Sylvamix® Hanging Basket is formulated to cope with extremely high watering demands...(more)
Demand for Melcourt peat-free products has increased across the board to the point that we need to expand our production facility by creating more storage and mixing capacity. This means going into land which is immediately adjacent to us, a move, on the face of it, which is extremely straightforward even though it involves an investment of around £250,000. Enter stage left, Great Crested Newts and, stage right, Badgers. There is an...(more)
The environmental impact of throwaway plastic bags, packaging and other containers is increasingly plain to see in our cities, towns and villages and on every roadside verge. The less visible but no less toxic impact on marine life is visible to anyone who watches a river flow to the sea and is increasingly highlighted on TV news programmes and documentaries. Most people now say we should use less plastic, but where...(more)
Mark Ridsdill Smith, otherwise known as “The Vertical Veg Man“ discovered by accident in 2009 that it is possible to grow a lot of food on a balcony. He also discovered that while he loves living in a city, he loves it even more when he can grow in it too: he and his family eat better food, chat to more neighbours, recycle their waste food in a wormery, watch the...(more)
Andrew Brain, Catherine Dawson, Rebecca Davis and Melanie Lesser with one of the Sylvamix peat-free hanging baskets Environmental credentials, including peat reduction, play an increasing part in the judging criteria for Britain in Bloom. The Bury St Edmunds in Bloom team decided to pick up the gauntlet and we are delighted that that their hanging basket supplier strongly recommended Melcourt Sylvamix® as the chosen peat-free product. Melcourt is sponsoring the compost...(more)
We were delighted to hear from Vicky Geary of the 5th Kettering Scout Group that their Plant Sale, held on 26th May and to which we’d donated some SylvaGrow® in which to grow the plants, was the best ever. “Beautiful healthy plants, which were eagerly bought by our friends, family and members of the local community. We had people queuing from 9.15am and we didn’t open until 10am!” reports Vicky. “Our...(more)
Nursery Melcourt product used Award Hardy Cottage Plants Grow in Sylvamix® and use Potting Bark™ to dress the stand GOLD Penberth Plants Grow in Sylvamix® and use Propagation Bark™ to dress the stand SILVER-GILT Ashwood Nurseries Grow in Sylvamix® GOLD Binny Plants Grow in Sylvamix® and use Potting Bark™ to dress the stand SILVER Brookfield Plants Use Potting Bark™ to dress the stand GOLD Rivers of Flowers Grow in SylvaGrow® Organic SILVER Crug Farm...(more)
