How would you like to be rewarded with colour, enjoyment and maybe even a few edible crops in your garden? Spend a little time now on these simple, practical projects and that's what you'll get
As the weather warms up and the days get longer, things start moving seriously fast in the garden. It's time to get out there and take charge. An hour, or even just half an hour, a day will get you ahead and is better than trying to fit everything in at the weekend. Start your gardening year with these creative sowing and planting ideas and get a long-term gain in terms of colour, taste and satisfaction.
Sowing Colour
As the spring bulbs begin to fade, plan for more colour next year by sowing early-flowering biennials. These are the plants that flower in their second year, such as Honesty, Wallflowers, Forget-Me-Nots, Sweet Rocket and Foxgloves (right). Both Honesty and Wallflowers make good cut flowers too. Choose named varieties for better colours; Honesty 'Atrococcinea' is a bold red, 'Munstead Purple' is a good dark colour and there's also a white form which mixes well with them.
Wallflowers (left) have a deliciously spicy scent as a bonus. Good colours to choose are the rich, deep crimson 'Blood Red', dark marmalade-orange 'Fire King' and bright yellow 'Cloth of Gold'. On paper, it can seem a long wait for these spring-flowerers, but they are such easy plants to grow that it is really worthwhile sowing some now for enjoyment next spring.
Crops for Pots
Few things beat being able to go outside and pick your own homegrown ingredients and you don't need a lot of space to get a useful crop. You can grow a wide range of edible plants in pots, window boxes and hanging baskets and many of them are as good to look at as they are to eat. A large shallow container is ideal for 'cut-and-come-again' salad leaves. Buy a packet of mixed salad leaves or choose your own, making sure you have good contrast of texture and colour in the foliage. Mizuna, rocket and giant red mustard make a good, tasty combination.
In a hanging basket, a 'Tumbler' cherry tomato partnered with a parsley plant and a mix of marjorams will look and taste delicious. Fruits are possible too. Try Alpine strawberry plants with salad burnet for adding to summer drinks or a strawberry variety such as 'Elan' kept well away from the slugs in a hanging basket. Try the following for some unusual, colourful varieties, many of them suitable for container growing:
- See also: Growing your own veg
Flower Power
For easy-to-grow flowers in a superb range of colours through the summer, try some hardy geraniums or cranesbills. There's at least one for your garden, whether it's small, large, dry, damp or shady, and they mix well with all kinds of plants. They range from tall, upright ones to low-growers for the front of the border. In shade, try Geranium Phaeum and G. Nodosum.
Tolerant almost anywhere is G. Macrorrhizum and it's evergreen too, with aromatic leaves that turn a good autumn colour. One of the best in sun is G. 'Ann Folkard' (left). It starts the year from quite a small clump. A mass of golden-yellow finely cut leaves emerge and spread through and over its neighbours. It flowers in mid-summer, displaying rich, dusky purple flowers with black veins, which continue until the first frost. G. renardii makes neat clumps of crinkly, sage-like leaves with white veined flowers emerging in early summer. This is just a small sample of many wonderful varieties. Look out for the ones that have been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's AGM (Award of Garden Merit).
Climbing Ambitions
Make good use of your vertical space by planting climbers and, even in the tiniest space, you can have colour and interest throughout the year. No garden should be without several clematis. There's practically one for every season. Starting with Clematis cirrhosa, C. armandii and C. macropetala in late winter, running through C. montana, the showy large-flowered hybrids in early summer and then the viticellas and C. tangutica which will still be flowering at Christmas.
One rule with clematis is to plant them deep - about 10cm lower than they are in their pot - to prevent clematis wilt, a disease that causes the top growth to wilt. It's not fatal but does mean you'll lose a year's growth. Pruning clematis is always considered a bugbear but is not as complicated as it sounds. For more information on pruning and the different varieties, go to Clematis on the Web. The International Clematis Society has a useful list of 'clematis for beginners' and is the ideal place to start. Once you've planted your clematis, you can move on to roses, honeysuckles and vines.
Other spring projects:
Support Act
Give your herbaceous perennials some support now, before they get too tall, and you'll prevent them from flopping later in the season. Use manufactured link stakes or hoops or get creative with some twiggy hazel peasticks. Make a wigwam or simple tripod of canes for climbers.
Summer Stunners
Plant some stunning summer bulbs now - alliums, agapanthus, dahlias, galtonias, gladiolus, cannas and lilies. They'll look great in late summer, either in the border or in containers which can be moved to fill in any gaps left by earlier flowerers.
Shopping List
If you're planning to buy some herbaceous perennials from a garden centre, they'll have a good selection at the moment. Rather than buying a selection of different plants, consider buying fewer plants in threes or fives to avoid a 'spotty' effect in your border.
Shady characters
Create your own tiny bit of lush, spring-time English woodland by planting primroses, daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, wild garlic and ferns, foxgloves and woodrushes in a shady area. They'll all self-seed and multiply and the effect will be truly natural and virtually maintenance-free in no time.