I have recently started working at Wildegoose nursery, where I propagate plants by seed, cuttings and division, all of which I find entirely fascinating and educational. If you are short on planting design inspiration, why not check out their stunning online nursery at – http://www.wildegoosenursery.co.uk .

Wildegoose nusery summer 2019
Wildegoose nursery summer 2019

At home this weekend I have mainly been sowing seeds, pricking out seedlings, dividing perennials, dismantling and reassembling the raised beds and replanting. Hopefully this will lead to my summer and autumn garden being full of tall perennials, hardy annuals, ornamental grasses and dahlias.

My garden in early April ornamental grasses self seed freely through my garden pathways.

Approximately 80% of my garden is filled with plants. The remaining 20 % consists of the greenhouse and small spaces for relaxing and listening into the sound of the visiting wildlife.

With all this in mind, the greenhouse has become a highly productive space , as I need to grow alot of plants to fill out my garden. Seed sowing for my 2021 garden started last year – the 12th September 2020 to be precise. Autumn sown Ammi visnaga is ready for planting out now. Uptil this point, I have only ever sown hardy annuals from early April, which means they didn’t flower till mid summer. By sowing last year, they are already planted. If all goes to plan they will be flowering by mid May. Ammi visnaga is an umbellifer, with domes of dense white flowers, and the bees love it, and so do I.

sown on the 12th September
Ammi Visnaga ready to go into the garden
planted out on the 4th April

Althea Cannabina was sown on the 12th September, the seed tray sat in my greenhouse and nothing happened. I was reminded that it needed stratifying to germinate ( i.e a cold period to break dormancy). It was put outside, open to the elements, and look what happened , it has germinated – I am truly delighted. This plant will grow in excess of 2.5m and has the tiny pink and white mallow flowers, that last late into autumn. It is a stunner. It may not reach this heady height this year, but I am prepared to wait.

This year, with knowledge gained from work, I have approached seed sowing in a different way, and it seems to be working :-

  1. Most of my seed has been sown into small plant pots , rather than seed trays this year, and there are a couple of reasons for this. Plant pots take up less space in the greenhouse ( yes, I know this is not rocket science ) and they are deeper than a standard seed tray, so the roots are not restricted by the depth of their initial container, which will make for a healthier plant in the long term. Please note larger seeds such as broad and runner beans and sunflowers will be sown into individual modules, rather than being squashed into small plant pots.

2. I have stopped sowing entire packets of seeds, which has in the past left me with way too many seedlings. I now sow, just enough for the garden, plus a few spares ( just in case)

seeds sown into smaller containers
seeds sown
more seeds sown
pricked out
the greenhouse is filling up

Perennials have been divided . I have yet to have come up with my final planting plan for the garden, but I am finding that as I divide exisiting plants, they are generally dividing into 3, 6 or 12 new offsets, so this will be my guide.

For the first time last year I saved flower seed. These Dahlias. flowers will be different to their parent plant, and I thought it would be quite a lot of fun, to see what happens. If you have never grown dahlias from seed , they are supremely simple. Seed is sown and left uncovered on the compost surface, they generally germinate within a fortnight, Obviously they will need pricking out and growing on, until they are ready to be planted out in early June, but the flowers, are so worth it.

I saved the seed from Honka Dahlias

This weekend the raised beds were dismantled, and have started to be reconfigured in line with this years plan. It is taking a little longer than I anticipated though, this is mainly due to the slight slope and uneveness of the garden, but we will get there. There will be changes along the way , but I will be quite happy if it ends up something a little like this.

  • Time to set up the new raised beds..
  • This years plan.

Amaranthus is a stunning architectural plant, with long tassels, which can last upto a fortnight as a cut flower. The seeds are tiny, but it is relatively straightforward to grow, so I thought, I should try a few more this year. I think at this rate I will have a garden full ! – I tried two varieties last year.

It is all getting pretty busy in the garden, so why not catch up on my next blog, to see how the garden continues to shape up for summer. The next blog will be along in a fortnight.