For gardeners who love to raise their plants from seed, the beginning of March is not unlike the build-up to Christmas. There’s lots of hustle and bustle, with flurries of intriguing parcels from favourite suppliers arriving in the post, accompanied by the making of wish lists and enthusiastic sorting of essential tools and equipment.
This is to say nothing of the tingling, endorphin-filled sense of anticipation that comes at this time of year. In our mind’s eye, we can already see it all in full and bonny growth. Those garden walls draped with swathes of scented sweet pea, those flower beds filled with pretty blooms, those neat vegetable patches heaving with home-grown produce. But before you plunge headlong into the crazy, joyful, life-affirming mayhem of it all, a few words of advice from a fellow seed addict who knows how easy it is to get quickly carried away.
First and foremost, resist the urge to sow and plant too early in the season. Hardy annuals, for example, can be sown now under cover of a frost-free glasshouse, polytunnel, cold frame, bright porch or sunny windowsill indoors in a cool, bright room. But with the exception of unusually hardy species such as broad beans, it’s best to hold off direct sowing seed outdoors for another couple of weeks unless your garden or allotment enjoys particularly mild conditions and/or is well sheltered.
This is especially true this spring, after months of heavy rain that have left most soils cold and waterlogged, creating conditions unfavourable to germination.
Examples of popular hardy flowering annuals include pot marigolds (Calendula); love-in-a-mist (Nigella, best direct-sown); sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus); cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus); Queen Anne’s lace (Ammi majus
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