3 minute read
A head-start on your garden
GET A HEAD-START
ON YOUR GARDEN
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It’s that time of the year, gardeners everywhere are getting prepped for what they hope will be an incredible year in their gardens
It may still be cold outside, but, hopefully, the last of the year’s frosts has come and gone. There are certain seeds and bulbs you can now start to sow, both outside and inside, ready to move outside later on.
If you get the timing just right, regardless of whether you have a greenhouse or not, or the size of your garden, you can have a bumper crop of veg and herbs alongside some beautiful flowers in your borders, but you need to put the work in now.
As opposed to shop-bought flowers ready to plant, if you have grown your flowers from seeds and bulbs, as well as the excitement of watching them grow, they will actually be hardier than the shop-bought variety.
For a little investment now in seeds, if you’re savvy, you can then use the seeds from the veg that grow for next years crops and likewise with the herbs. If you take a cutting towards the end of the season, you can have your herb plants ready-to-go next year too.
Tomatoes are one of the best go-to veggies for your garden or greenhouse. Get an early start by sowing your seeds early in seed trays indoors. Start with some good quality compost and pick a few different varieties of tomatoes. Sow the seeds on the top of the seed trays, before sprinkling on a thin layer of compost. Give them a good water, before covering and leaving in a warm and sunny place. When the weather gets warmer, then transplant them into a large planter or grow bags with bamboo or trellis to hold them up.
Another great group of plants, that when grown yourself at home adds so much to your summer BBQs, are herbs. Basil, oregano, and thyme are three of the most popular and you can start these great plants off early. Sow basil, oregano and thyme now in seed planters with good quality compost and a propagator lid in a warm place. The shoots should start to show within a week and when they do keep them moist until they’re large enough to pot-on. When potted-on, put them in a warm, sunny spot in your garden or, even better, a greenhouse.
Chilli peppers and sweet peppers perfectly compliment the tomatoes and herbs you already have growing and they are just as
HERBS
TOMATOES
CHILLIES
simple to grow. Pick a few different varieties such as Burrito Chilli, Sweet Pepper and Cayenne, and sow the seeds similarly to the tomato plants. The roots go deeper in chilli plants, so plant each seed 1cm into the compost and then water, cover and keep in a very warm place. Once the plants are 2-3cm tall pot-on into individual containers somewhere warm and with lots of sunshine. Ideally, keep them in a greenhouse or lean-to with direct GARDENING TIPS sunlight. l Always use good quality compost when starting your seeds to get incredible growth. If you don’t have a lot of room for seed trays and Most of your Spring propagators, simply cover pots with cling film. bulbs should already be in, however, there l Always put pots with seeds in a well-lit and warm are a few more you area to encourage growth. can plant now. When potting on, pull out the plant – root included Summer-flowering – using the leaves as if they break they will grow bulbs like Pineapple back, whereas a broken stem won’t. Lilies and other Lilies alongside your Gladioli Tomato plants grow like a jungle when bunched are prime to go into together, so make sure you use bamboo or trellis to the ground next. For try to keep the space neat and tidy. Gladioli, soak the bulbs in water a day before planting and then plant the bulbs 2-6 inches deep, 5 inches apart in rows before covering again with soil. These will take between 70-90 days until they flower. For Lilies, plant the bulbs three times as deep as the height of the bulb and set pointy side up.
BULBS
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l l If you get the timing just right you can have a bumper crop of veg and herbs alongside some beautiful flowers
