If you want to enjoy spring flowers like daffodils and alliums in your garden next year, then this is the time to take action and get busy planting bulbs! When visiting garden centres to buy bulbs, choose plump and firm, healthy bulbs and avoid purchasing dried out and desiccated bulbs, as these won’t amount to anything.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are beautiful, reliable plants that flower for ages, their attractive blooms provide an abundance of nectar for bees and butterflies. Plus, chives produce a regular supply of tasty leaves and flowers from May until the end of summer – they’re such great value plants! In addition to all of the above, chives flourish in containers of peat-free compost or will thrive planted in any soil (apart from waterlogged soils) in a sunny or partially shaded site.
Nothing beats growing plants in the soil. Plants are usually happiest growing in the ground, which makes us happier too, as watering is so much easier and our soil-grown plants tend to be stronger and healthier. We’re not all fortunate enough to have access to the soil, but thankfully, patio and balcony gardeners’ dreams can be successfully fulfilled with the right choice of containers, growing media, and vegetable varieties.
The best gifts of all are true love, friendship, and respect, which cannot be bought, yet are priceless gifts that we all aspire to receive. If you’re considering purchasing a gift for someone special, may I recommend seeds of a sweet pepper that I’ve trialled, tested, and found to be easy to grow, tasty, and productive. I’d also like to share with you the gift of advice: sweet pepper plants (and chilli peppers) are tender plants that are killed by cold temperatures.
When you imagine your perfect container plant, what do you dream of?
Many of the edible plants we can grow from seed need to be grown in a bright location where they bask in the sunshine in order to generate strong and healthy growth and enable these edibles to really flourish; however, we are not all blessed with sunny gardens. If your garden is shaded, or if you’ve struggled to grow your own edible plants in the past, I’ve got two fabulous suggestions of seeds that germinate readily, can be sown directly in the soil or in containers of peat-free compost on a patio, balcony, or window box now.
April is such a wonderful month to sow seeds of edible plants, as it’s possible to grow almost anything from seed at this exciting time of year! Make the effort to get out in your garden or allotment now and benefit from the opportunity to sow seeds of carrots, parsnips, globe artichokes, and other edible plants that take more time than others to grow and develop.
I adore tomatoes and devote a phenomenal amount of energy into running Tomato Trials in my never-ending search for the best tasting tomatoes. I snap up the tomato varieties that the seed catalogues declare are the best and trial them – they often taste very different to how they’re described. I’m excited to share my findings and help you discover tomatoes with truly tantalising flavours this summer!
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) is one of our beautiful British wildflowers that grows in chalk grassland, over sand dunes, across shingle, and atop cliffs, in South East England. These stunning plants should be cherished, as from late spring and early summertime, Kidney Vetch bloom continuously for around three months. Their flowers are a magnet for bees, and Kidney Vetch thrives in containers on a sunny patio or balcony.
Life isn’t always as relaxed as we’d like it to be. Daily demands and pressures can leave us feeling tense, stressed, and exhausted. My favourite way to relax, recharge, and re-energise my body and soul is to spend time outdoors in a garden or allotment, or to take an uplifting walk outside in our beautiful countryside.
If you’re looking to unwind, make time to enjoy a pot of tea in the garden.
I absolutely adore butterflies and moths, so I make the most of every opportunity to grow plants to attract and support these insects. Every year I trial different plants in containers, searching for plants that are easy to grow and form naturally floriferous, and attractive plants that will delight gardeners and attract bees and butterflies. One of my top performers is Scabiosa columbaria, one of our native wildflowers that’s also known as the Small Scabious.
June bestows blessings upon us – a final opportunity to grow incredibly productive and delicious vegetables this summer! Savvy gardeners who sow cucumber and courgette seeds directly in the soil now avoid the hassle of washing up pots, the time needed to pot up seedlings, and the expense of buying compost.
All risk of frost has passed so you don’t need a greenhouse.
I enjoy running horticultural trials; I spend much of my time searching for the most gorgeous plants that will produce a profusion of flowers and attract bees and pollinating insects. I love to share the most successful plants from my trials with you to help you find top quality plants to enhance your garden. The plants I recommend in this column need to be grown in a bright and sunny location, in well-drained soil or containers filled with peat-free compost.
I adore mint and relish this herb’s energy. Freshly harvested mint leaves can be used to make enticing cocktails, herbal teas, and an array of delicious savoury and dessert recipes. Most people are familiar with peppermint or spearmint, but have you tried any other varieties?
A whole world of different flavoured mints is available to those who grow their own plants.
Whether you garden in sunshine or shade, there are plants that will be perfectly suited to growing in your garden – it’s just a case of finding them! In 2019, my Vegepod was moved from a sunny spot, to a new enclosed, deeply shaded area of my garden. I am not exaggerating when I say that in its new position my Vegepod truly was shaded – my Vegepod was sandwiched in a tight space, wedged between a tall conifer hedge, a two storey high wall, a tall fence, and an 8ft tall pergola that was smothered with climbing plants – the plants growing in my Vegepod did not receive any direct sunshine whatsoever.
In case you missed it, last week I posted my latest Compost Trial Report. The top-performing composts in this trial were Heart of Eden All Purpose Natural Compost, Harmony Gardens Multipurpose Compost, and Bathgate Horticulture Peat-free Multi-Purpose Compost; these are all peat-free growing medias. I’d urge everyone to use peat-free compost. Peatlands are unique wetland nature reserves and habitats for rare plants and wildlife.
Going peat-free is a positive action that each of us can take to protect our peatlands, safeguard nature, and protect our planet. When you are buying plants, before you make a purchase ask if the plants were raised in peat-free compost. When buying compost, check the packaging to see whether the growing media contains any peat – look to buy growing media and composts that are 100% peat-free.
Chilli pepper and sweet pepper plants grow slowly and can take longer than we expect to reach maturity and produce peppers. January is my favourite time to sow chilli and sweet pepper seeds, as it gives the plants a longer growing season with extra time for fruit to develop and ripen, compared to the standard spring-sown plants.
Spring and summer weather often leaves plants and gardeners wilting during punishing droughts and intense heatwaves. Raising plants in containers requires far more water than growing plants in the ground. If you’ve got a penchant for container gardening, I’d like to introduce you to self-watering containers: literal lifesavers for plants and gardeners!
I’m a peat-free gardener and a passionate advocate for peat-free gardening. I want to help you be a successful gardener, so every year I run independent Compost Trials and share the results on my website.
I’ve included organic and vegan, peat-free composts in this Compost Trial. All of the composts in this Compost Trial are 100% peat-free.
