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I completely fell in love with Canterbury Bells after growing them for the first time last year and now they are one of my most favourite plants for cutting and I think more people should grow them! I convinced Ben to stock the seeds which is fabulous and this year its part of the biennial bundle so hopefully many of you will give it a go. Such a tall statement plant in the garden at this time of year and a classic cottage garden plant. You could grow it specifically in a cutting garden or it would just make a brilliant garden plant too. It has tall stems of beautiful bell shaped flowers in shades of pink, purple, blue and white. You can get a double form but I much prefer the single form and so do the bees, you can hear them humming away inside each flower. In the first year after sowing you get a nice neat rosette of bright green leaves and then the tall stems develop from April onwards and they start flowering in early June. Almost a year after sowing but well worth the wait. The photo below shows the neat rosette in mid-March.You will need to give them some support as they can get quite big, I’ve put some bamboo canes up and intertwined each plant with some jute twine, in a couple of layers as they grow.  I only grew a few plants last year and they were all a blue or lilac so hoping for a mix of colours this year. They can send up one big tall stem which can be useful if you want some statement stems or you can pinch then out so that they send out lots of shorter stems, sometimes these are easier to incorporate into smaller arrangements or have a mix of both which is what I have this year. Once you have picked the main big stem you will get lots more flower shoots and this can really prolong its flowering time. I was still picking them till the end of July last year. But another really big plus is their vase life, at least two weeks, I would say to pick them when the top flowers just starts to open and then the other ones will open too down the stem. Here they are growing next to, and mingling with, the autumn sown Cornflowers and Corncockles. I sowed mine in early June last year, they are tiny seeds and can be slow to get growing. I sowed into a seed tray and I pricked them out into 9cm pots in July. If you have room plant them out once they are well rooted, I ended up potting mine on into 11cm pots and planted them after I had cleared some of the annuals in September. I’m always juggling for space. They look nice and neat and tidy too all winter, they start flowering at the beginning of June. A huge plus is they don’t seem to be bothered at all by slugs, well they haven’t so far with me! Here is the first pickings cut on the 8th June.You have to clear the stems of side shoots and also then get a small posy of the flowers on shorter stems.They seem to time their first flush of flowering in June with the autumn sown Cornflowers, Corncockle, Orlaya, Hesperis purple, Feverfew, Alchemilla mollis and Roses which all make perfect companions.

Here with Cornflowers ‘Black Ball’ and ‘Mauve Ball’ and Corncockle.

The white and pale pink forms look fabulous with other white flowers in my garden in June. Corncockle ‘Bianca’, Silene vulgaris, Sanguisorba ‘Burr Blanc’ and Echium ‘White Bedder’.

They took a bit of a back seat to my favourite rose, Rosa ‘Munstead Wood’, also with Ranunculus, Corncockle, Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Sweet William ‘Nigricans’ and the bright pink of Knautia macedonica.A bit of fizz from Alchemilla mollis with the vibrant dark blue forms, with Corncockle ‘Bianca’, Orlaya grandiflora and Echium ‘White Bedder’.

The double flowered Feverfew that seeds around my garden was also a good companion, with more Corncockle and Cornflowers!

Finally a flashback to one of my favourite posies last year, when I picked a bunch of sideshoots in July and combined it with Cosmos ‘Apricotta’, Amberboa muricata and Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’.

Just to show the long vase life, I dismantled the first two posies I did in June and the Canterbury bells were still looking fabulous 10 days later and still going strong.

A really hope that I have tempted you to grow this fabulous flower, it really is the star of the June garden. Pop Canterbury Bells into your basket or go for the Biennial bundle which has 10% off and grow lots of other great flowers that will see you with armfuls of cutflowers from May until July. If you want to know more about the bundle see my blog post here. Also Higgledy Gemma (Colour Wheel Garden) has written a blog about why she loves biennials so much, link to it here. She has also been doing a sow-along to show you how she sows here biennial seeds, they can all be found on her Instagram page.

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks if you fancy a follow)

Let’s start with the basics: what the heckers is a biennial? Well, in a nutshell,  it’s a seed you sow typically between June and July for plants that flowers the following Spring. (If you prefer the Oxford Dictionary definition, it’s any plant that lives for two years, producing flowers in the second year. But, I prefer my simpler version, don’t you?) Now that we are happy with what a biennial is let’s delve into why you absolutely need to grow these wonderful flowers!

1. Your Future Self Will Thank You: Sowing biennials today leads to uber floral abundance later. Yes it takes a year for them to grow but it’s an investment in future beauty, and they are an absolute doddle to grow. I promise next year you will be thanking yourself for growing them, and even possibly the year after too  especially with plants like honesty where you can save seed pods for stunning arrangements in the depths of winter and following yea after! You will be doing your future self a massive solid if you grow these now!
2. Filling the Cut Flower Gap: Ever feel that hunger for fresh-cut flowers once the tulips fade but the roses haven’t quite started? Biennials step in perfectly to fill that gap, ensuring continuous beauty in your arrangements.
3. Cheap and Easy: A few minutes of sowing can yield armfuls of flowers next year. It’s a cost-effective way to add immense beauty to your garden without breaking the bank, and lets face it most other spring flowering plants like bulbs, perennials and shrubs are expensive. You get way more bang for your buck with biennials!
4. Direct Sowing Delight: If you have the space, you can directly sow biennials in a weed-free section of your garden and watch them flourish next year with minimal effort, just as Mother Nature intended. They literally couldn’t be easier, and if you’ve found you’ve had any disasters from slugs eating spring sown seedlings or any plants have died or underperformed for you, just whip them out and quickly scatter some biennial seeds in their place, it’s a fab way to make a something that felt a bit like a failure turn into an instant success!
5. No Greenhouse Needed: Unlike some plants, biennials don’t require a greenhouse to thrive. You can grow them in pots outside or directly in a cleared bed with no fuss. In fact if you do have a greenhouse I would actively avoid putting your biennials in there just as they start to grow and the temperatures rise you don’t want your flowers to scorch and wilt under the hot sun and glass, so keep it simple and keep them outside they crack on very easily with just the usual watering and nothing else needed.
6. Feel Smug Ahead of Time: Picture this: it’s not even autumn yet, but you’re already feeling smug because you’ve got a head start on next year’s flowers. That’s the joy of biennials – you can plan ahead and enjoy the satisfaction early. You can sip your margherita whilst you sow your seeds, quietly admiring yourself for being a most organised gardener ahead of schedule!
7. Wow Factor on a Budget: Biennials offer a real wow factor without costing a fortune. Things like roses and tulips can be pricey, lets face it you need a good number of tulips to put on an impressive show and your expensive new roses can take years to establish, so as stunning as they are both can be costly to get wow factor. Whereas a simple packet of biennial seeds can yield towering, dramatic, frothy stunning plants in just one year. Winner- winner floral dinner!
8. Season Extenders: Biennials don’t just bloom for a brief moment; they massively extend the flowering season from April to June, ensuring your garden stays vibrant and alive for longer. Starting with Wallflowers flowering in April, followed by Honesty, then Hesperis (Sweet Rocket), then Foxgloves, then Sweet Williams, and finally Canterbury Bells and Daucus in mid June! They put on one heck of a show for literally months!
9. High Demand Flower Time: If you’ve ever sold cut flowers or plan on selling cut flowers then you will know that Spring particularly April – June is often when most people are desperately craving cut flowers more than any other time of year, after a long Winter everyone is craving colour, and freshness and biennials are a smart way to offer your customers plenty of flowers for a low cost, high profit reward in the high demand Spring time when most other plants at that time of year like bulbs, shrubs and perennials are quite costly to you per stem. If you’re planning on making profit from your flowers next Spring then biennials are an absolute must to grow!
10. Simply Gorgeous: Lastly they are just drop dead gorgeous flowers. Aside from the fact that they flower at a really good time, are cost effective, extend your season and have wow factor, these flowers are simply stunning! Beyond all the practical reasons, biennials are just drop-dead gorgeous. Imagine a garden filled with scented wallflowers, towering foxgloves, frothy honesty, Hesperis and Daucus, with scented Sweet Williams, and magical Canterbury bells – it’s a scene straight out of a Chelsea Flower Show gold medal garden. These flowers are just drop dead gorgeous and a garden would be sorely lacking without biennials.

So to sum up, if you’re not already sowing biennials, then get your derriere quickly into action and grow some! You don’t want miss out on a a tonne of spring beauty, and joy in your garden. So, grab those seeds, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to enjoy the wonders of biennials next spring! They’re a doddle to grow and your future self will be doing skips and cartwheels next year! (P.s if you enjoy sow along videos that you can copy along with then every day for a week from the 10th of June to the 16th of June I will be doing a biennial sow along on my Instagram – @colourwheelgarden where you are invited to join in! So bring your favourite beverage and biennial seeds and lets enjoy some happy biennial sowing together!)

As always happy sowing, and  TTFN – Ta-ta for now!

Higgledy Gemma – If you want to give me a follow you can find me on Instagram and Tik-Tok and Threads as colour wheel garden!

Sunshine has arrived finally, we have had some warmth at last and yes I know we have had more rain but actually this is perfect growing weather. Hopefully you have sown all your annuals now and they are growing well. I’m having a mini battle in the greenhouse with some slugs, its those little tiny brown ones that can just nip off the growing shoot before you know it. My Zinnias have taken a bit of a mauling and so have the Didiscus and the odd Phlox. So I’ve ended up sowing some more Zinnias but I’m sure they will catch up. Its very frustrating but all part of gardening! But before you put your seed boxes away there is just the matter of the biennials. Not more seed sowing you say, but this will be the last till the autumn and you will be thankful for it this time next year. Biennials are so useful for the cutting garden as they fill a gap between any bulbs like Narcissus and Tulips that you may grow for cutting and before the autumn and spring sown annuals get going properly. They include beauties such as Honesty, Sweet Rocket, Wallflowers, Sweet William, Canterbury Bells and Foxgloves. Even if you don’t grow for cutting they add lots of late spring colour to your garden and many are great for the bees.

Biennials are flowers that you sow in late Spring/early Summer, they germinate and grow into a small plant and then flower the following year. I know, I know a whole year to wait but they will really reward you next year with armfuls of blooms, many of which are scented, at a time in the garden when they are much needed. More reason to sow them? We have put together a new bundle for this season of our favourites with 10% off. Click here to link to the bundle offer.

Many of them you can be easily sow direct but as I’ve got a smallish garden and space is tight, my beds and borders are chocka-block full of plants now so I tend to sow into seed trays and prick out, pot on and plant out when I have space later on in the year. For more specific sowing instructions for biennials have a look at the Higgledy garden seed sowing guide. But just a few hints and tips, seeds sown now don’t need any special treatment really, you don’t need a greenhouse they will be fine outside. In fact it will be too hot in a greenhouse they are best sown outside in a sheltered part of the garden but don’t forget about them. They will germinate quickly and its very important to keep an eye on watering as they can dry out very fast. In fact they will grow so fast its best to be efficient at pricking them out and potting them on so that they don’t get root bound or starved of nutrients that could stunt their growth or prevent them growing into a good, healthy plant. Plant in their final positions in the autumn, September is a good time so they can get established before any cold weather arrives. But they are all hardy and will then just stop growing and sit tight till the spring when with some warmth and light they will send out flower stems and flower to their hearts content from late April to end of June depending on the variety.

The seed of Foxgloves and Canterbury bells are very small, like dust for Foxgloves so they are very hard to sow thinly but try as hard as you can as it makes it easier for pricking out. They are best surface sown or cover lightly with vermiculite. Either water the seed tray before sowing or sit the tray in water so that it soaks up rather than overhead watering after sowing as this can just wash all the seeds to the side of the tray. I know this from experience!

Honesty on the other hand has big flat disc-like seed and I tend to sow these on their sides in modules. They can be erratic to germinate and don’t all germinate at the same time so be patient.

So what are the best Biennial flowers, well many of the quintessential cottage garden flowers are biennials, so we have Canterbury Bells, Foxgloves, Honesty, Sweet Rocket (Hesperis), Sweet Williams and Wallflowers. We have picked our favourites for the Biennial bundle.

Honesty is one of the first to come into flower, mine was out in mid April, and the great thing about them is they can grow in tricky places, don’t mind some shade and once established can cope with it quite dry. I always have a bit of a dilemma with it, do I cut it for the flowers or leave it for the beautiful moon-shaped irridescent seed heads. The answer really is you need to grow enough to do both!!

Wallflowers are one of my favourite flowers to grow for their scent alone, read more about them here. We have included ‘Ivory White’ and ‘Vulcan’ in the bundle so that you can have some subtle pastel shades and some sumptuous dark shades in your garden!

Sweet William or Dianthus, those beautifully scented flower with big bright flower heads. They have really good sturdy stems for cutting and the flower heads are large and can make quite a statement in a bouquet. Here is Sweet William ‘Higgledy Mix’ and ‘Auricula-eyed’ with the acid green perennial Alchemilla mollis.

Next is the beautiful Sweet Rocket, we have Hesperis Purple and Hesperis White here and both add a frothy, blousy feel to your garden and posies. Beautiful sweet scent, last pretty well in a vase, long stems and keep flowering for a few months, sending out lots of side shoots after the main stems have been cut. The plants will often be perennial for a couple of years and then run out of steam so best to grow a few extras each year to top up your patch or rotate them round your garden.

Here with Orlaya grandiflora and Corncockle.

Foxgloves are a must for my garden, I just love those stately spire and I’m trying to establish them so they keep setting seed but that takes a while so I grow a few a year. We have the beautiful pink ‘Excelsior’ and the pure white ‘Alba’ in the bundle this year. I have to say, as I only have a few growing in my garden, I find them very hard to cut down as a cutflower and I like to leave mine for the bees who just love them. But they do look fabulous in a vase. Here is the Foxglove ‘Alba’ with Alchemilla mollis, Feverfew, Ammi majus and Allium ‘Graceful beauty’.

Canterbury bells were one of my surprise favourites in my garden last year, it was my first time growing them and wow do they make a statement in the vase, even just on their own. They are big sturdy plants and once you have cut the main stems send out lots of flowering side shoots.

Here with Cornflower ‘Black Ball’ and ‘Mauve Ball’, Alchemilla mollis and Silene vulgaris.

Here with Cosmos ‘Apricotta’, Amberboa muricata and Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’.

I can’t wait for them to start flowering again any time soon.

So there you are a beautiful collection of biennials for you to sow in June/July. Here is the link to the bundle with 10% off the full price.

Follow us all on Instagram. myself Higgledy Anne (anne_hinks), Ben and Higgledy Gemma (Colour Wheel Garden) for more information on sowing biennials and our flowery adventures.

There are not a huge number of annuals flowers that are scented but Nicotiana is one of them and so a must for your cut flower garden. They are not all scented though so if you particularly want scent then choose your varieties carefully. Also be aware that some varieties are very short and used often for bedding so you want the taller cultivars for cutflowers. They are fabulous filler flowers within your bouquets and add some movement to your arrangements, especially the smaller flowered types that seem to dance around the edges. Also they are a proper cut and come again cutflower and will keep flowering all summer, sometimes into the autumn.

The ones for best scent include Nicotiana affinis, this is a creamy white variety that looks fabulous in containers or in your cutting patch.

Nicotiana alata cultivars are also all wonderfully scented so that includes the fabulous and versatile Nicotiana ‘Lime’ and Nicotiana ‘Sensation’. These are great plants, big star-like flowers, Nicotiana ‘Lime’ in a vivid bright green. We have included it in our Sunglasses bundle to add some vibrant acid green against your pinks, oranges and purples. Nicotiana ‘Sensation’ is a fabulous colour mix of white, to pale pinks to dark reds. Glorious.

Nicotiana ‘White Trumpets’ too is wonderfully scented. This is a monster of a plant so give it plenty of space, it can cope with some shade so is very useful in the garden. I’ve never yet used it as a cut flower but I can imagine it would be stunning in a big arrangement. I grew it on my allotment years back and actually overwintered it (must have been a mild winter, my allotment was in Huddersfield!) but better to treat as a half hardy annual and sow fresh each year.

Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ is a bit special, it doesn’t have a strong scent but the flowers are smaller, white with a hint of green and hang beautifully from tall stems so brilliant as a cutflower. Adds lots of movement to your bouquets. It’s one of my favourites.

They are pretty easy from seed, the seed is tiny, like dust, and so I find its much easier to sow in a seed tray or into 9cm pots. They need light for germination so sow on the surface of you compost and leave uncovered or use a small covering of vermiculite. They need a bit of warmth so a sunny windowsill is ideal. They emerge as tiny little seedlings and best to prick out quite quickly. You think these are going to take ages to get going but they are surprisingly fast from sowing to planting out. Prick out into individual pots and plant out once rooted and after the frosts. I’ve found they need a sunny spot but maybe don’t need full sun which can cause them to wilt quickly if its really baking hot, though they will revive. Nicotiana ‘White Trumpets’ can cope with shade.

They are quite sappy plants and the foliage is slightly droopy and a bit sticky to touch but don’t let that put your off. Because of the softness of the foliage you might think that they won’t last long in water but they have a surprisingly good vase life of at least a week especially if you cut just as the first flowers on the stem are opening.

The plants can sometimes get a bit of mildew so the trick is to keep it well watered and plant in good moisture retentive soil.

I had it growing in my cutting patch next to the gorgeous Cynoglossum ‘Firmament’, Ammi visnaga and Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’.

The creamy flowers of Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ look great on the edges of your arrangements. Here in a white and blue arrangement with Cephalaria gigantea, Larkspur ‘Imperials’, Cynoglossum ‘Firmament’, Achillea ‘The Pearl’ and white Origanum.

Here in one of my favourite arrangements of the year, Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ shimmered along with Helianthus ‘Valentine’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Ammi visnaga, Inula hookeri and Bupleurum falcatum.

Nicotiana ‘Sensation’ also adds to dark tones to this vibrant bouquet, including Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’ and Larkspur ‘Imperials’.

Just as an extra note, growing Nicotiana in your garden, especially the white forms will also encourage moths into your garden which is such a great thing. Nicotiana release most scent in the evenings specifically to encourage moths for pollination, though according to the Butterfly Conservation website the long tube like flowers of Nicotiana ‘White Trumpets’ are too long for may of the British moths to reach the nectar! But Nicotiana alata cultivars like ‘Sensation’ and ‘Lime’ are known to be particularly attractive to Hawkmoths. Would love to see one of those in my garden.

Also one year I found that my Nicotiana ‘Lime’ was being used by a leaf cutter bee for material to seal its nests!

Anyone else sowing Nicotiana this weekend?

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)

I’ve been doing a bit of looking ahead and thinking about the half hardy annuals that I will sow later in the spring. Half hardy annuals I think of as the flowers that add a bit of pizazz to your plot, many are lovely and vibrant and they will extend your growing season right into autumn.

So what is a half hardy annual? Well its a flower that grows, flowers and sets seed in one season but that are susceptible to frosts. So either they need to be sown after the risk of frost has passed or sown undercover and kept protected and then planted out after the frosts. I tend to sow them in late March or early April, and keep them in my unheated greenhouse or if they prefer a bit more heat on my bedroom windowsill. I prick out and pot on as needed and plant them out mid to end of May. They may need hardening off before planting out which just means bringing them out of the greenhouse or warm windowsill in the day and taking back indoors overnight, do this for a week or so. This is just so that they don’t get a shock from being in a toasty environment to getting planted out in the big wide world outdoors and keeps them growing more smoothly.

It includes some of my favourites, Sunflowers, Phlox, Rudbeckias, Cosmos, Zinnias and Nicotiana. Some I sow earlier than others as they can be a bit slower to grow and get to flowering size, these include Phlox, Rudbeckias and Scabious. Others are super speedy and quickly germinate and grow, like Cosmos and Nicotiana. More information of specific sowing instructions see the Higgledy garden seed sowing guide.

Sunflowers, who doesn’t love them, even if you are one of those weird people that don’t like yellow flowers (Controversial!) surely everyone can find room for a sunflower. They come in a wide range of colours with, some might say, more tasteful colours like primrose yellow, red, copper and I love the peachy apricot colours. I grew ‘Ruby Eclipse’ last year and fell in love, but this year we are stocking a new variety, excellently chosen by Higgledy Gemma called Helianthus ‘Summer Lovin’ which has shades of cream with shades of dark pinks and red suffused through. Gorgeous.

Rudbeckias, another yellow flower! But again this comes in many shades, here at Higgledy we sell the glorious ‘Marmalade’ which is a gorgeous warm yellow with a big brown ‘nose’ in the centre of the flower. It goes lovely with vibrant colours of Zinnias, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’ and Nicotiana. There is also Rudbeckia ‘Irish Green’ which has a bright green ‘nose’ in the centre, which I think would go lovely with Dill ‘Mammoth’ or Nicotiana ‘Lime’. Myself I’m a sucker for the rich varied tones of yellows, browns and sandy shades of Rudbeckia ‘Sahara’ which goes so well with Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’ and Cosmos ‘Apricotta’.

Zinnias, I love them but they need sunshine and warmth to really do themselves justice and I don’t have a huge amount of areas in my garden with full sun but if you can find them the right spot and once they get going they are fabulous. I tend to sow these in modules, as they don’t like too much root disturbance, so then I can just either plant them directly from the module or pot them on into 9cm pots. The other thing I’ve found is that they are very tasty to slugs so I do try and get my plants to a good size before planting to give them a better chance. Last year the star of my Zinnias was ‘Purple Prince’ that was just glorious and mixed well with lots of other flowers.

Nicotiana, so good as adding a filler to your bouquets and they just keep on flowering, so just keep picking. I’ve also found them pretty resiliant to drought they don’t need masses of watering. Also many of them are scented including Nicotiana ‘Sensation’ which comes in a beautiful range of colours with quite large flowers, Nicotiana ‘Lime’ a fabulous acid-green form and Nicotiana affinis, pure white flowers. But my favourite is Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ which though is not scented but has slightly smaller flowers than the other forms and adds some daintiness to your bouquets.

Cosmos, these are a must have for me, they are just THE best cut flower in my opinion. I’ve written about my love for Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ here but I love them all. Cosmos ‘Purity’ is such a strong plant, it gets big so needs some support but you will be cutting from it for months. Cosmos ‘Sensation’ and ‘Fizzy Rose’ give you a wonderful range of pinks and reds. There is nothing more beautiful than a big bouquet of Cosmos for me. I’m trying a couple of new varieties this year too so will see how they do. They are super quick to germinate and grow so you need to bear that in mind which you are planning to sow them as they will need to be kept frost free, so don’t sow too early unless you have the space to grow them on.

Scabious are fabulous flowers for cutting, I’ve found they can be quite slow to grow so I sow them fairly early and pot them on till they are a good size and plant out after the frosts. I love the rich dark black flowers of Scabiosa ‘Black Knight’, I’m also growing a lovely rich red form called ‘Merlot Red’ and a peachy apricot form called ‘Fata Morgana’. Scabiosa ‘Ping Pong’ I grow for its amazing seed head which is so good for drying and keeping for autumn and winter arrangements.

Aster ‘Ostrich Plume’ they remind me of jelly tots some how, the colours and that big yellow centre just full of fun. Big shaggy flowers, they need a bit of space and support but these Chinese Asters are great for bringing late colour to your plots.

Phlox I’ve already written about how much I love these here and can’t wait to get them going this year. Definitely going to try and have a good patch of these for cutting.

So there are a few of the half hardy flowers that I’m planning to grow on my plot this year. Can’t wait to get started. But I’m holding out a bit longer before sowing.

We also have a bundle offer for a collection of flowers to add some vibrant colours to your cutting garden. Have a look at the Higgledy Garden Sunglasses Bundle!

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)

It’s Sweet peas sowing time! You might have seen lots of people going on about their autumn sown sweet peas on social media but now is also a perfect time for sowing sweet peas and they won’t be that far behind the autumn sown ones! I did sow in the autumn, see my guide here, but I am going to sow a few now too. My autumn sown ones have mostly been ok, lost a couple and I’ve had to pinch them back a bit to stop them getting leggy but its a very good way to get ahead and save time now when there is so much else you might want to sow. But I also have had a complete failure of my autumn sown sweet peas in the past, this was the year before last when we had that really cold prolonged spell of cold weather. The temperature in my unheated greenhouse went below -10 degrees for quite a few days and they never properly recovered from that. I lost a lot of stuff that year but I just resowed my sweet peas in the spring and still had a gloriously scented flower filled summer. Sometimes its good to do a second sowing especially if you want to extend the flowering. You can sow from now till end of March at least and you can even sow directly in April.

There is not much that beats a big bunch of sweet peas to dive your nose into. I love sweet peas mostly for that scent I think its my favourite flower scent just about pipping Lily of the valley. They are a bit of work to get going but once they are growing well your main job is to just keep cutting them and surely that is no chore!

So sowing is easy, the only thing to really be aware of is that they have big roots so sow into a nice long pot, I use 8 or 9cm pot or root trainers so that roots have a bit of a depth of soil to get going with. But pot size is less of an issue in the spring as they won’t be sitting in their pots very long, so just use whatever you have. I sow 2 seeds per pot and just plant the whole pot or module. I use peatfree compost, Melcourt Sylvagrow is my favourite. Some people recommend soaking the seeds but I’ve never done that and always have good germination. They need a bit of warmth at this time of year for germination but once you see those little green shoots then you can move them somewhere cooler. Keep them in good light so they don’t get too leggy. But don’t worry if they do, you can just pinch them out and they will bush out.

They need some support, either a wigwam or a A-frame and they will need tying in till the seedlings get established and starts using its tendrils to climb up. You can remove the tendrils if you feel so inclined as they can sometimes catch on to the flower stems and cause them to be distorted in shape. I tried this but then you have to a lot more tying in and they don’t grow quite as quickly so I’m not going to bother again. I’m not growing for perfection more to just have lots of colour and scent. I’ve also learnt to appreciate picking longer stems including the tendrils to add some nice texture to your bouquets. This is also useful for some varieties like Cupani which don’t have really long stems or later in the season when the stem length can shorten.

Sweet peas need plenty of nutrients and lots of water so struggle in a very dry summer but if you are patient and keep them going they can sometimes revive again once it rains. I mulch the area where I’m going to plant with well rotted manure and water well in dry spells. I will feed with a seaweed feed if they are looking a bit pale. They can suffer from mildew in a dry summer so plenty of water helps keep that at bay.

Above are a few varieties that I grew in 2023. From far left the dark red is Winston Churchill and then going clockwise round from there is Jilly, Beaujolais, Leamington, Flagship, Eclipse, Painted Lady, Valerie Harrod, Swan Lake and in the middle Nimbus. We will be getting Beaujolais back in stock very soon! You can see from this the subtle difference between Jilly and Swan Lake, Jilly is a much creamier white and Swan Lake a pure bright white.

I’m excited to be trying some of the new varieties that we have for sale this year, like Air warden, which is a bright scarlet. Noel Sutton looks gorgeous a mauve, a bit like Charlies Angels which we struggle getting stock of now. Plus I’m also sowing one called Pulsar which is another ruffled speckled variety but paler than Nimbus, and Annie B Gilroy which is a bright cerise pink.

We are also selling a bundle of our favourite sweet pea varieties here.

Ah so looking forward to picking the first bunch, its always a celebration in my household.

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)

Ok I’ve done it, the seed box is out! I’ve made a start but I’m trying to not get carried away but this mild weather does strange things to you. Its been very warm here in Lancashire and everything has been stirring. I finally have some colour in my garden, the Hellebores are looking fabulous, delicate Iris reticulata are out, such short lived beauty but so welcome at this time of year. Cyclamen coum with its bright pink flowers and beautiful patterned leaves. Pulmonarias are just starting to flower, so good for the early pollinators that are braving the weather. I’ve already spotted a big bumblebee out and about. The daffodils are out and there are big fat shoots coming up in the tulip bins and pots. Its all so exciting.

This is my absolute favourite time of year the magic of seed sowing, I’ve been sowing seeds for years now but I still feel that giddy excitement when I see the little green shoots poking out of the soil. I’m straight up in the morning to look at the collection of pots on the window sill and see what has changed during the night.

I’ve been squelching down my garden (when is this rain going to stop!) to the greenhouse and having a bit of a sort out there. Clearing out anything thing that hasn’t survived the winter, its been a relatively mild winter, just a couple of really cold spells. My autumn sown Sweet peas are currently in a sheltered spot outside and they look much better for it, they were looking a bit bedraggled and a bit of fresh air and rain has done them good. I’ve also put outside the Cornflowers, Corncockle and Ammi majus, they were growing too quickly inside. These have been fine and are so good from an autumn sowing. I will bring them in if it forecasts heavy frosts. I’ve potted on a few things, Orlaya grandiflora, Papaver nudicale, Ammi visnaga, Daucus carota ‘Dara’, Echium ‘White Bedder’ and Omphalodes linifolia ‘Little Snow White’. I also have Cerinthe which is looking good.

So what have I been sowing, well I’ve sown some of the perennial seeds which can sometimes take a while to germinate. I’ve sown Echinacea ‘Primadonna Pink, Gaura ‘The Bride’, Chrysanthemum ‘Crazy Daisy’ and Knautia ‘Melton Pastels’. These I’ve sown in 9cm pots and have placed these on my bedroom window sill where it gets some warmth from the radiator below. I sowed these on the 10th February and I already have germination in the Gaura, Chrysanthemum and Knautia which is very exciting. Patience will be required for the Echinacea, they can be slow to germinate. Plus I’ve also sowed Cobaea scandens and some Thunbergia (Climbing black-eyed Susan) these are on my small propagator which gives a gentle bottom heat. Already can see a few shoots of Cobaea.

Then just last weekend I spent a pleasant couple of hours in my potting shed sowing some of the hardy annuals that are pretty tough and can cope with a bit of cold. Calendula sunshine in a seed packet.

Some more Cornflowers as you can’t have too many cornflowers.

Echium ‘Blue Bedder’ for the bees.

Cynoglossum, like a forget-me-not on steroids.

Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’, I’ve already written about how much I love this flower here.

Godetia ‘Crown’ much loved by Higgledy Gemma, plus I’m trying a white form Godetia ‘Memoria’.

Gypsophila ‘Covent Garden’, I need to master growing this lovely little white flower.

Finally I’ve sown a few different varieties of Scabious including ‘Black Knight’ the fabulous ‘Ping Pong’ grown for the quite bonkers seed head. So I’m keeping an eye on all these now and will keep you posted.

Just had another peek at the pot of Echinacea seeds and there is a little green shoot! Whoop!!

Have you started sowing yet? Lots of guides on here to help you get started by myself and Ben.

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)

I believe it was the Greeks who first named the flower Cosmos. They saw the well-ordered petals around the center and considered it similar to how they believed the Cosmos to be. ‘Cosmos’ means ‘balanced universe’ in Greek.

I know what you’re thinking….”wow! Higgers….you’re so brainy!”….and you’d be right of course…but not just brainy…practical too. Our friend Cosmos is a super practical addition to any cutting garden. It’s easy to grow….has a long flowering period…keeps producing flowers after you cut them…and it lasts well in the vase.

Cosmos are right up there in the flowery hall of fame when it comes to the best flowers for your cutting patch. I am never ever ever without cosmos in my gardens. The first cosmos flower of the year is like meeting up with an old chum and splitting a bottle of posh wine in the sunshine. The issue I’ve had is how many varieties can I sensibly stock. Higgledy is a ‘micro business’ and we have to keep our total range under one hundred varieties and choose only the very best of the bunch (excuse the pun.) So I decided that I would stock the finest four Cosmos that exist on planet earth right now in the 21st century.

Cosmos ‘Purity’.

“This popular annual cosmos makes a great filler for a sunny border, and as long as it’s dead-headed regularly, it will produce a succession of pure white, saucer-shaped flowers from early summer to mid-autumn. It’s very easy to grow and it makes an invaluable addition to the cutting garden.” RHS.

Cosmos ‘Purity’ was the first cosmos I grew back in the day. I had an incredible first harvest. We had flowers until November. I used to sell bunches of flowers in a local health food shop in Cambridge. Customers used to grab the bunches of flowers out of my hand before I could them to the manager. ‘Purity’ always helped to sell the bunches. You rarely see them in florists as I don’t think they travel well.

Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose’.

“A bushy, upright, half-hardy annual with finely-divided foliage and semi-double, white flowers stained and edged a dark pinkish-red, borne on stems to 1m tall, from summer into autumn.” RHS

I saw these growing in my chum, Mandy’s front garden. They are about as jazzy as I think a cosmos flower should go….I’m not a fan of cosmos with fluted petals for instance. I used to refer to ‘Fizzy Rose’ as ‘posh totty’s knickers’ but that was in the 1990’s and I need to refrain from that sort of language now. Fizzy Rose always sells well and my loyal customer base send me photos and tell me how much they love them…so Fizzy Rose is with us for the long haul.

Cosmos ‘Sensation’

“Sensation Series are half-hardy annuals with fine, feathery foliage and, from summer into early autumn, single flowers, to 9cm in diameter, in shades of pink, red and white that are borne on stems to 1.2m tall” RHS

Not having Cosmos ‘Sensation’ in my seed shop would see me in the soup. The flower growing public would burn effigies of me and I would be sent to live on the Isle of Wight. Some say Sensation is a tad too flouncy for their tastes…and I get that….but it is certainly not too flouncy for mine. I have no problem with pinks and the bees seem to love Sensation too.

I haven’t grown Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ yet but Higgledy Anne says she will leave Higgledy and go and work for Mr Fotherchops if I don’t start stocking it. I think you’ll agree she is a very beautiful and charming Cosmos….’Apricotta’ that is, not Anne….Anne isn’t a Cosmos….although she is beautiful and charming.

Tips for growing cosmos from seed:

*Either direct sow your Cosmos seeds direct into the soil after threats of frost have disappeared….or sow six weeks earlier in pots…in a greenhouse or on your windowsill. Best just not be in too much of a rush to get them started…one bit of frost and our Cosmos chums will keel over…and you will be all sad…guilty….and be in the shallows of  despair….well…maybe. I sow mine from April (undercover)…outside after 10th May. I noticed that the wonderful flower farm ‘Organic Blooms’ sows in March…although they are in the southwest, which will account for early sowing to some degree.

*Prepare the bed you are going to grow them into…make sure it gets lots and lots of sun and is weed free.

*I thin my seedlings to a foot apart…many other flower folk sow two feet apart….either way your plants will need staking if the site is exposed.

*When you harvest cosmos flowers…cut them just above a leaf node and this way you will get some more blooms.

If I was thee, I would buy a packet of each from the Higgledy Seed Shop of Dreams.

If you have any questions you can find me on Facebook, Twitter and you will see heaps of photos of flowers, the boat garden and Flash on Instagram.

Kind regards

Higgers and Flash

In the last Higgledy lecture we wrapped our flowery heads around the subject of Hardy Annuals. It was emotional. If you have just joined us may I suggest you take a peek at the previous posts and get yourselves up to speed. There could well be a surprise test…points could be deducted…no one said this was going to be easy.

FAQ:

‘What is the difference between a hardy and a half-hardy annual?’

In simple terms…hardy annuals can cope with frosty weather…and so their seeds can be sown in autumn as well as spring. Half-hardy annuals will keel over if they so much as look at a frost.

The slightly annoying thing about Half-Hardy annuals is that they can also require a long season to flower. If you consider they are usually native to places closer to the equator…they haven’t got seasons to get worried about…so they just hang around in the sun, smoking cigars and drinking Tequila until such a time as they feel like flowering.

To combat this we must sow them relatively early. I sow mine in pots in early April. I plant these seedlings out in late May. They can flower from July…and right through until Halloween-ish if the weather is mild.

FAQ:

‘Higgers, lion of lions, King of Kings…Half-Hardy annuals (HHA) sound a bit faffy…are they worth all the faff?’

HHA are not at all faffy…there is a little work sowing up the pots…but even then, ‘work’ is the wrong word…it is nothing short of a joy my dear. HHA also offer us more flamboyant blooms….often not as many as their hardy brothers and sisters, but this just means we use them more sparingly. Some HHA are flower making maniacs…for instance, my old friend, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’ is an incredibly prolific fellow….and no one would dare call him ‘faffy’!

FAQ:

‘After my husband died in a freak golf buggy accident (which my lawyers are confident I will be acquitted for), I was able to dig up his vegetable garden to use for a cut flower patch. Can you recommend some HHA to plant there? Would you have time to come over to Bonkton Hall to help me with my needs?

Here are my Top Seven Half Hardy Annuals for planting in your recently deceased husband’s vegetable garden.

*Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’. I’ve already mentioned this chap once…here he is again. Handsome, reliable and very cheery. I have never been without ‘Marmalade’ in a cutting patch. Some folk just loath yellow flowers…I think there was a movement against them in the 1970’s…it’s time to get over it.

*Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose’. ‘Fizzy Rose’ is the new Shelia in town. She was loved by almost everyone who grew her this season. At first, I thought she might be a bit of a flouncy tart…but, not so…I’m not going to suggest she is classy…like ‘Purity’ but she is a chirpy lass and we LOVE her!

*Tithonia ‘Torch’. This Tithonia is a gem. Tithonia like a rich soil. Be careful of the delicate and hollow stems. (We are out of stock right now….sorry!)

*Cleome ‘Violet Queen’. This flower has become a modern classic….a bit like the Ford Capri. The seeds can be a little erratic to germinate…give them lots of time and keep them moist (not waterlogged) She has thorns….oh what a minx! #NaughtyViolet

*Sunflowers. Lots of seed companies will tell you that sunflowers are Hardy…well…sometimes they will make it through a winter but not often.  We have four varieties this season.

*Nicotiana ‘Sensation’. I had the best year ever for Nicotiana. I should have won awards and been on the telly. Nicotiana are beautiful creatures. I grow four varieties….but this year ‘Sensation’ won me over.

*Aster ‘Ostrich Plume’. When I asked my flowery Facebook chums what their fav HHA were, Aster ‘Ostrich Plume’ was mentioned a good few times by many. Mine were a bit wimpy this year but I see other folks did better…..grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

*Zinnia ‘Mammoth’. Zinnia are Marmite flowers…not for everybody…I love their awkward and quirky ways. ‘Mammoth’ are usually the most useful in the cutting patch. Plenty of blooms and a good range of colours. Keep the bed rich and moist for a good harvest.

All of these wonderful creatures can be found in the Higgledy Seed Shop.

If you have any questions, please come and find me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Facebook is probably the most chatty and informative of the three…the flower growing community there is a very warm and friendly bunch of folk.

Kind regards

Ben

Inch by inch, step by step the light is returning but my it feels so slow, we have now passed what feels like the longest month, January and there are changes are in the air. Almost imperceptibly every day there is a change in the light, small green shoots are emerging from the brown dark soil and the morning bird song volume in my garden is just slowly creeping up. Especially the Robin, my morning walk down to the greenhouse sees him (or her) perched on the tree serenading me. Looking forward to the time when I can starting picking flowers again from my garden.

I’m also counting down the days till I can get my seed box out and start the sowing year. I love that feeling of tipping the seeds carefully from the seed packet into my hand and pressing them into fresh compost. Followed by that moment when the little seedlings emerge, I still get so much joy from that every year it never goes away.

I just adore growing from seed, little packets of joy that promise so much. Let’s just admire the beauty of them, they are all so different, from the tough round black mini marbles of the sweet peas to the spiky coils of Calendula seeds that I imagine look like little seahorses.

There are the Thunbergia (Climbing Black Eyed Susan) seeds which look like tiny sea urchins, Cornflower seeds that look like little shaving brushes and the always popular Scabiosa ‘Ping Pong’ where the seeds are like shuttlecocks.

Ok maybe I’m going a bit crazy but they are all so unique. Some are big chunky seeds that you can hold between your finger and thumb to sow individually, like climbing Nasturtium or the gloriously stripy black and white sunflower seeds.

Others are so tiny they are like dust and need to be sown thinly and carefully on the surface of the soil, like Foxgloves and Nicotiana.

Some are long and thin, like Cosmos, and others are round and flat, like Cobaea which I tend to sow on its side so that water doesn’t sit on top of the seed and cause it to rot.

Seeds are precious things, its getting more expensive for seed companies to grow and harvest them so prices have gone up a bit on many of them, so take your time with sowing. Sow when the time is right, use nice fresh compost. I use Melcourt Sylvagrow multipurpose compost which is lovely stuff and I’ve had great success with. We have a guide for sowing all the Higgledy gardens seeds here. But its just a guide, the best advice is just to have a go, if you are unsure just sow a small amount and then you can try again later if they don’t germinate. See what works best for you and your garden, some of you may have fancy propagators but you can do just as well with a sunny windowsill.

Some seeds germinate almost within days, I find Cosmos given some warmth from a propagator or a sunny windowsill can soon push their heads out of the soil. Whilst other you need lots of patience with and the germination can be erratic or a few a time rather than a big flush of seedlings. Some like Larkspur and many perennials seed like a spell of cold weather to break their dormancy so you can sow these in early spring and expose them to cold or take the easier option and put the seed packets in the fridge for a couple of weeks and then once in the warmth they should germinate quickly.

But its still a bit too early for most things at the moment, still quite poor light levels and cold but I have sowed some Larkspur after putting the seed packets in the fridge. I will also likely in the next week or so sow some Cobaea scandens which I’ve written about in more details here. I will also check through my autumn sown sweet peas and see how they are doing and I may make a second sowing of those. There are a few of the more hardy annuals that could be sown undercover soon. I’ll be sowing some Calendula (I especially love Calendula ‘Snow Princess’), Echium ‘Blue bedder’ (as much for the bees as for me), Scabiosa, Salvia viridis (see my blog on this fabulous flower) and Chrysanthemum ‘Rainbow Hippy Love Child’ (a big favourite of Ben). See the Easy peasy bundle for a selection of seeds that are easy and you can start sowing now. Plus I’m going to sow some perennials especially Gaura ‘The Bride’, I want those wafty wands of butterfly like flowers in my bouquets this year.

But I’m sorting through my seeds and planning my sowing year. I’m growing some old favourites but also going to be growing lots of new things. I love to experiment with new varieties so I will keep you posted. I’ve a fairly small garden so just grow small amounts of lots of things. I’m stocking up on fresh peat free compost and sorting out my seeds trays and pots. I’m doing a big tidy of my potting shed which will soon be my favourite place to be.

Are you excited about the new seed sowing year?

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)

We were almost delirious with excitement yesterday when we explored the various seed sowing methods employed by flower growing folk up and down the Isles. Today we shall be dipping our proverbial toes into the tingly waters of ‘what seeds to sow when’.

As is becoming my habit, I have asked the flower bods on Facebook for their opinions. They are a clever bunch and they are friendly to boot.

Throughout this piece, I will give rough dates for central England…add on a couple of weeks for Scotland…and take off a couple of weeks for Costa Del Cornwall.

Far and away the biggest failures in growing flowers that newbie growers have is caused by sowing too early. Seeds sown outside in cold wet soil can easily rot before they get a chance to germinate. Seeds sown inside too early don’t get enough daylight hours…this makes them ‘stretch’ towards the light. The ‘stretching’ makes them really get the hump…they usually become weak and flop over in a gangly pile of sulking stems. Sowing early is a form of greed. Don’t do it. Be patient! #NaughtyNaughty

There are exceptions to every rule. The master flower growers at the brilliant ‘Organic Blooms‘ sow early in their polytunnels and have excellent results. However…I am aiming this post at those who may be just starting out on their cut flower patch adventure…and I want them to have the best chances of success.

Although the main push of your seed sowing will probably be in April, there are sowing opportunities in three seasons. I never sow anything in December, January or February (though some folk do)…the winter is a time for casseroles and for working on my beer belly…I leave my plots untouched and untidy…this is the way the creatures like it.

Right…I’ll start off with a rough guide to when I sow my seeds for the Higgledy Garden and then we’ll delve into the seedy lives of the Facebookies.

Sweet Peas.

In theory, you can happily sow Sweet Peas from October to March. A couple of years back I found myself sowing them on Remembrance Day. I now make this my last seed sowing day of the year. I sow my first sweet peas on Feb 1st. (Imboc)

I then hold off sowing any more seeds until the spring equinox (no…I’m not a druid). The equinox is the day in March when we have equal day and night length. Plants are really switched on to this. Our ancestors were really switched on to this date too. in 2024 the equinox falls on the 20th.

I sow Sweet Peas right through until May with no problems. I think I am right in saying Georgie Newbury (Common Farm Flowers) sows into May too.

Hardy Annuals.

I will go into more details about the differences between Hardy and Half Annuals in a few days. For the time being newbies should just be aware that Hardy Annuals are generally flowers that are native to our climate and as such can take a frost without having a hissy fit. This means they can be sown in autumn. Conversely, Half Hardies are native to areas closer to the equator and generally like things to be warm throughout their life…and who can blame them.

The first sowings of Hardy annuals I make into pots from the March Equinox. I don’t sow many annuals directly into the soil but if I do I always leave it until the soil has properly warmed up….certainly no earlier than mid-April. I prefer the first flush of weeds to come through…and hoe them off before sowing my flowers.

I will sow hardy annuals right until the end of May. My flowers last until Halloween when I leave them to go to seed for the finches.

When it comes to Autumn sowing I make my last sowing into the ground in late August or early September and the last sowings undercover before the September Equinox. (Sept 22nd)

Remembering the dates of the equinox will make you look like a pro. Drop it into a conversation when you’re chatting with other gardeners and they will wish they could be like you.

Half Hardy Annuals.

I sow all my Half Hardy Annuals into three-inch pots. Again we are looking at our chum the spring equinox. Half Hardies generally like a long growing season, so try and get them in before mid-April…but it’s no biggy if you leave it a little later. As these critters are too wimpy for a frost we don’t sow any in Autumn. If you are buying seeds from me…you will see that I include in the description whether they are hardy or not. (Most are Hardy as Hardy Annuals are the most prolific flowerers and therefore suited to a cutting patch)

Biennials.

June and July is the best time to sow these (for flowering the following spring) I sow in pots and then plant them out before the September equinox (yup…I’m pretty big on equinoxes)

Higgers Tip: My autumn sown annual flower bed is usually spent by the September equinox. I plant my biennial seedlings into it after I’ve cleared it. This means that I can save a big chunk of space.

Punter’s Tips:

Zoe Leeson A patients relative told me a few years ago about his lovely tradition of sowing Sweetpeas on Christmas Day. I have therefore started my first set off during Christmas week (with three kids, sowing on Christmas Day was being a bit too optimistic 😄). I then sowed more at the usual time of year. The Christmas sown ones were a lot healthier. I also start collecting toilet rolls now to sow the seeds into, Sweetpeas love having long roots so they are perfect for the job and degrade in the soil …. love a bit of recycling too

I love the idea of having memorable dates for sowing seeds. Seed sowing can be a pretty emotive task. Like Zoe I sow in cardboard tubes too. I find it helps to water them very lightly or they can fall apart. It’s also pretty easy to make newspaper tubes. After I’ve realised I can’t afford any of the houses in the local property paper, I use that.

Nicky Ogborn I always like to sow things too early and have found that they don’t do well like this so now I normally wait until the end of March beginning of April to sow. The exceptions being Tomatoes and Antirrhinums which go in February to satisfy my plant cravings. Have tried some autumn sown hardy perennials this year which seem to be doing really well. Will have to try the Christmas sown sweet peas!

Good point on the Antirrhinums (Snapdragons), they like an early start….though they don’t get one from me! Carnations are another beastie that you can sow in February.

Rosemary Mckerrell autumn sown annuals – wait for the equinox …..

Rosemary Mckerrell and aim to get biennials sown by the longest day… so start in first two weeks of June. They are so worth it!!

NB Longest day being the solstice…usually the 21st June. I totally agree with Rosie, Biennials are a must have. They produce buckets and buckets of flowers…you’ve just to wait a while for them.

Cassie Maund-Powell Tip I heard but personally I test soil temperature with my hand 😂 “The gardeners of old would test the soil to see if it was warm enough to sow seeds in by dropping their trousers and sitting down on the earth with their bare bottom.”

Haha! Yes…I think the test is actually a mental one…you should look at the soil and decide if you would be happy sitting on it with a bare bum…no need to actually place your peachy buns on the earth. #BumTesting

Carol Thornton Don’t lose your gardening calendar is a good tip! I never know when to sow things, so mine are always late!

I will keep you on the straight and narrow, Carol. ;)

Many thanks to those who posted tips. I will update them as and when I get new ones.

Kind regards

Higgers & Flash.

Before I start my warbling on my seed sowing method can I point out that Higgledy Anne has written a more extensive post that covers all the varieties we have for sale presently. You can see her seed sowing guide HERE.

In the previous lesson, we looked at ‘Positioning Your Cutting Patch & Preparing Beds’. It was, I’m sure you’ll agree, pretty nail-biting stuff. Today we will be exploring the delights of how you should go about sowing your flower seeds.

I have asked the wonderful flower folk on Facebook, how they go about seed sowing. Their answers have been very varied and very useful…probably more useful than my own warblings will be. I’ll start off by giving you my own preferred method….then we will look at other people’s methods and I will explain why they are all wrong…OK OK…let me at least add comments to their suggestions.

How I sow Seeds At Higgledy Garden.

My method is contentious…but it works for me.

*I sow virtually everything into three-inch square pots. A seed that is sown into a three-inch pot in early April will happily develop in the pot for six weeks until it’s time to go out into the big wide world in mid-May. Or he can be kept in that pot over the winter if I was sowing in Autumn…in a greenhouse.

*I use New Horizon or Melcourt Peat Free compost and sometimes mix in some perlite or coarse sand for better drainage. It’s not essential but it makes my neighbours think I know what I’m doing.

*I sow the vast majority of my spring sown seeds in April….some in March…perhaps some Carnations in February. NB Carnations are making a comeback….well….they are in my garden anyway. I also sow a few trays in May for later flowers. In June I’ll start sowing some biennials but I’ll be writing about those beasties later in the week.

*I give my seeds a very light covering of compost or vermiculite. I buy a bag of vermiculite from the garden centre when I buy my compost. Peat free compost can sometimes develop a green mossy bloom on the surface if left damp…I find that a gentle covering of vermiculite stops this. Vermiculite is also a glittery gold colour….so it’s like bling for your seedlings. #innit. Much like the perlite…vermiculite is not necessary…but it helps…I doubt if I spend more than £10 a year on it.

*OK…here’s the crunch. I never pot seedlings on. I find this whole process faffy and dull. Why start seeds off in a seed tray if you are going to later move them to a three-inch pot?…just start them in the pot. Depending on the size of the seeds, I just sow a tiny amount in each pot. Take Cosmos for example. I would sow two seeds in each pot. If two germinate I destroy one. #HarshLeader(butFair). If none germinate, I’ll simply resow. #simples. The other benefit of this method is that you don’t end up having a trillion million seedlings to pot up with nowhere to put them.

*Be aware of how much growing space you have. This year I had a relatively large cutting patch…my flower habit is only for domestic use…for me…my friends and neighbours…and the old folk’s home. #WhatALovelyMan. This space was about 40 square meters (two 20 x 1 meter beds). I plant perhaps between 9 and 12 plants a square meter. Let’s call it 12… 12×40=480 plants. 15 three-inch pots fit into a seed tray…so I need 32 seed trays… 4 seed trays fit into a ‘gravel tray’ (I’m not sure they are called that)…so I need just 8 ‘Gravel Trays’ to fill my whole patch. Work out how many plants you will need to fill your flower patch and concentrate on bringing up this number of seedlings…NOT five times this number of seedlings, which result in poorer quality plants (usually)

*Nurture these seedlings…keep them warm….let them have as much light as possible and don’t let them get waterlogged…damp/dryish is much better than wet.

*After the frosts I plant out…usually mid-May.

*After this…the workload drops to zip all….I just gently hoe around my seedlings every few days. My 40 square meters takes just ten minutes or so. Once the seedlings become ‘plantlets’ (?)…about six inches high, I’ll add a mulch around them to keep the weeds down.

This process is more time-consuming than sowing seeds straight into the ground but in fact it doesn’t take all that long. Even with a gin and tonic in one hand I can sow up 4 seed trays in less than an hour…so sowing the whole lot would be less than an afternoon. I find this takes considerably less time than weeding around tiny seedlings that were directly sown into the ground….and native weeds grow faster than our non-native flowers. HOWEVER…some growers swear by direct sowing….as we shall see.

Here’s what my customers say….well most of them are customers….some of them are just waffs and strays. ;) Thank you all for your comments and tips. #Facebook.

Lorraine Pullen Morning Ben my top tip would be don’t sow many seeds. In the early days I would happily sow whole packets in a couple of trays and then spend hours pricking out hundreds of plants that I had no room for and ended up giving away. Now I sow one small pinch of seeds into a small pot or a cell of a tray and still have a few left to give away and this way I have space in my greenhouse for lots more variety.

A lady after my own heart.

Joff Elphick When I was growing cut flowers for a boutique hotel and cookery School I sowed absolutely everything direct. It meant no one needed to water over hot weekends, there was no check in growth at pricking out or potting on and nothing ever failed. No cloches, or fleece etc was used. Zinnia, cosmos, Ammi etc etc. Basically everything you sell was down direct. Save yourself a lot of trouble and try it.

There you have it…everyone has their way. Joff has grown flowers for a long time…and knows his onions….so to speak.

Nicky Ogborn All my seeds get started in yoghurt pots, food trays, basically anything without holes in the bottom and put on my sunny windowsill until I prick them out (tend to pick out the biggest ones and then give up halfway through a pot as I run out of space/lose the will to live). Easiest and most resistant to pests would be antirrhinums and scabious. Gypsophila and persicaria were a bit tricksy for me this year.

I have taken Persicaria out of the shop as it was too sulky for the happy vibe I want to push out. note how pricking out her seedlings gets Nicky down! Don’t do it Nicky! You have to be careful when starting seedlings on a windowsill that they get enough light…remember the light is only coming from one side.

Hannah Roberts If you have young children don’t use plant labels use masking tape all the way round pot & write on the tape to identify seedlings.

Hannah, you are a genius. Flash is a fan of label theft too.

Kerry Skinner 1. Might be better to use pots which are all the same size! Ben says…
My beginning was Thrifty, determined to re use/ re cycle but that became messy..and not space efficient.
2. Also, make a list of what you are planting, I didn’t so countless googling to check whenever I found a badly labelled stray pot..
3. Make sure your labelling doesn’t wash off! Or just enjoy a lucky dip..

I like consistency and order…I am turning into my Dad.

Rosemary Mckerrell agree strongly re not sowing too early but if the temptation is proving too much antirrhinums do well with an early start (even Jan/Feb). Higgledy antirrhinums are brilliant. Flowered well in summer and good second flush now.(and v little rust)

Rosie takes heaps of wonderful flower photoraphs (that I steal). Visit her page to have a look.

Rosy Bows I have two cats who love to dig and sunbathe on any bare earth – so I sow in small pots and plant out to discourage them! Then seed between for later flowers. I do thin out but hate doing it poor babies 

Wildlife, as well as domestic beasts, will quickly gobble up seedlings if one isn’t careful.

Karen J N Edgar Direct sowing is great fun. Don’t be afraid to give it a go. Too many – pull some out. Had great success this year by doing this. Nigella cornflowers poppies bidens all easy to grow this way. Mind you they will find their own space!. Don’t have a greenhouse. No room. Use two shelves from an old fridge to cover pots of seeds outside too until they germinate. It works. Motto – give it ago.

As Karen says ‘give it a go’…I don’t want to be too prescriptive with my own method…it’s all about experimenting. PS I use storage boxes as mini greenhouse. Works a treat.

Lenore Messick Don’t start seeds too early – they will sulk. Wait until the soil is good and warm if you’re going to sow direct. If you’re sowing inside (windowsill), wait until there’s plenty of light. If you can stand looking at it for weeks on end, it really works to line the windowsill under your seed flats or pots with aluminium foil – reflects the light. I have also found my cheap electric propagator to be a good investment.

Yes, good point. I didn’t write much about direct sowing….but in my experience sowing outside before mid-April is counterproductive.

Alison Badman Don’t be tempted to start sowing too early indoors or in the greenhouse Reading comments on other FB gardening groups so many people think a warm late winter day means spring and try to get ahead with sowing only to find they have straggly seedlings reaching for light and it’s too cold to plant out. On the other hand it’s worth do late midsummer sowings of annuals to get a continuous display into autumn.

Newbies be aware of how folk have learned not to sow too early…we all know it’s tempting…but it will disapoint…and worse…by the time you’ve realised it’s gone wrong you will have missed a really good window of opportunity to sow. I know of one amazing flower grower who doesn’t sow a single seed until May.

Jan Willetts If you have seedlings try watering with cold camomile tea, it prevents damping off disease. I make a pint with one teabag.

Being a rugged, alpha male type, I haven’t got any Camomile tea….but this sounds wise.

Lesley Brown on gardeners World on Friday a lady cur off a seed head (Hesperis Matronalis) and just stuck in in the ground where she wanted it to drop seeds and grow.

I would prefer folk to buy seeds from me! ;)

Dysko Stu Using perlite and vermiculite in 3×3 with correct compost means you can sow fewer seeds and get greater yields. Then you don’t have to replant them. All stuff you’ve said before. The first year I didn’t do this and yields were low. Then I lost loads during repotting.

Another shout out for perlite and vermiculite. NB Perlite is for mixing in with compost…vermiculite is for a top layer.

Sian Price This might sound a bit woo woo but since I started doing the moon gardening thing – flower/Root/leaf days – germination rates are far better for the herbs! Seriously works.

I don’t believe biodynamic gardening BUT I do believe that if a grower is going to take as much care in sowing seeds as Sian does then those seeds will have a better chance than most. I think Sian is ace. #PleaseDontTurnMeIntoAFrog

Caroline Davies Buy Kelly’s Cornish ice cream. They sell it in handy mini propagators.

#Brilliant

Deanne Brown 1) Pull seed head off flower
2) Crumble
3) Throw to back of border. Hope for the best.

When Deanne was at school he was very disruptive. ;)

Jane Langley Write on both sides of the label as one side always fades.

#Organised