Kitchen Garden Forum

Mr Fothergill’s purchases Eastfields Nurseries

Last week we received the news that Eastfields Nurseries, the company that up until May 2006 had supplied offers for Kitchen Garden and was still supplying other titles as well as national newspapers such as The Telegraph, had gone into administration.

We can now confirm that the mail order arm of Eastfields, which includes The Fruit and Vegetable Company, based at Rookery Farm, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire has been purchased by leading seed and young plant producer, Mr Fothergill’s Seeds.

Managing Director, Geoff Fothergill told KG: “Eastfields Nursery has been acquired by Mr Fothergill’s Seeds who will be sorting out all existing obligations and will be working closely with KG in the future.”

He went on to say that his staff were working as quickly as possible to fulfil any orders disrupted by recent events and that anyone who had yet to obtain goods ordered via Kitchen Garden would be receiving them very shortly.

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So there you go.

How does this effect KG?
This effects pre-April offers (such as The Asparagus offer) - as past this date we had stopped using Eastfields for offers due to poor customer service.

I am still missing...
If you are still awaiting an order placed with Eastfields your order should be fulfilled automatically by Fothergills. If you have a problem still, please call Fothergill's main telephone number on 0845 166 2511



KGAdmin

All noted, very interesting
It brings us back to who owns what in the seed world.
As far as I remember Fothergills own Johnsons, Marhalls, not sure who has D T Brown but the commercial side has been absorbed into Moles Seeds with fresh vigour
Kings have Suffolk Herbs
Suttons and Dobies are in the Ferndale Lodge group.
Unwins seem to be having another try
Who else is there?
Tuckers
Thomas Etty
Nicky's seeds
Seeds by Size
Heritage seeds

Any additions and amendments please

There's my favourite, Seeds of Italy.

Loads of seeds in the pack, high germination, prompt and friendly service - IMO Franchi deserve to do well

I concur with Chantal and Sprout re Seeds of Italy. Most of the seeds are traditional varieties as well which have stood the test of time

There's also Thompson and Morgan.
They were a family owned firm but were then bought by an American company and then a few years ago there was a buy-out by the UK managers, who I think still own and run the company.

Westland Horticulture own Marshalls and Unwins, and buy their seeds from Kings.............

Fothergills now own Eastfields, who went into voluntary admin leaving many bitter staff with no pay

Perhaps the consumers should now decide............

Me, I still buy my seeds from Kings and seeds of Italy

Loz

Thanks everyone for replies.I will note all this info for a master record, with the lack of permanence on this forum inasmuch as old messages get buried I can then repeat the info on request.
I endorse Seeds of Italy for generosity, speed of service and universal foil package.The bi-lingual presentation can make ordering hard work.
Kings commercial upped the minimum quantities so I rather went off them. I ditched Marshalls, partly for the lack of foil packets, maybe things have changed under the new owners.
I would like to mention that the online sales of Suttons incurs no postal charge even for one packet, a consideration when you find yourself short.
For sheer value for money if you can use the minimum quantity Moles seeds can be very worthwhile.The order can be surprisingly small as long as you don't try to run an account with them.
Allan

I think that the jury is still out on Marshalls, Allan.

I had problems with soft fruit bushes and plants ordered last back end. It will be interesting to see how they handle my complaint, as customer service was quite good in the past.

I have also moved a number of varieties away from them over the years, as I find their range is tired.

I do not feel that things have improved since they were bought out, but next season will probably be a better judge.