GINA PARKINSON explains how to reap the benefits of sowing seeds, one of the most satisfying of garden tasks.

GROWING plants from seed is a satisfying occupation. From February and March onwards, assorted receptacles of compost are dotted about our house and checked daily for the first signs of growth.

Germination of large seeds such as sweet pea is usually indicated by cracks appearing on the surface of the soil before the shoots push through, while smaller seeds just tend to suddenly appear. Maybe one tiny shoot is visible, then more and more pop up until there are so many that one begins to regret tossing those extra few seeds on to the compost “just in case”.

Outside in our yard there are pots of achillea and erigeron that were sown this spring.

They all seem to have germinated and are steadily putting out new leaves and bulking up.

The achillea won’t flower this year but will be potted on again at the end of autumn and over-wintered either by the house or in the unheated greenhouse. Next spring they should be decent sized plants and will be put out in drifts in the sunny bed waiting for them.

The erigeron has shot up since being separated into individual pots. This time-consuming job is a tiresome but necessary part of the process from seed to flowering plant.

Overcrowded seedlings in their initial tray are desperate to grow and once given the space they need, most will respond and bush out very quickly during the summer. The erigeron which is E. karvinskianus ‘Profusion’, a low-growing plant covered in pink-tinged white daisies for weeks from June until October, looks likely to flower this year – the larger plants are already beginning to show signs of buds.

Like the achillea, this erigeron likes a sunny spot and will grow in quite poor soil including in walls and paving cracks.

While the above plants will take a season or so before reaching maturity, some plants only need a few months to do the job.

One such is Ricinus communis ‘Impala’. I saw this growing in a garden in Flamborough a few years ago and had in mind to give it a go. It is a tender annual with large maroon leaves and clusters of fluffy orange flowers, which although not large stand out against the colour of the foliage.

It is growing in a bed eventually destined for Michaelmas daisies and grasses, but which for the moment has been filled with rich-coloured dahlias that complement the colour and shape of the ricinus.

The area is perhaps a little shady for these exotic-looking plants which like full sun, but the summer has been so good this year that I have got away with it.

Spent flowers from the tall indigo shrub that overhangs the plants in this bed have unfortunately spoilt the ricinus foliage a little by leaving marks and holes where the petals have rotted.

Next year they will be given a more open place, but even so they are a lovely sight and well worth growing, especially for late-summer interest.

The two things to note are that ricinus is an annual and needs to be grown from seed each year and also that the seeds are poisonous and should to be treated with caution.

 

Weekend catch-up

Strawberry plants have finished fruiting and are now putting their energies into send out runners.

If the plants are only a year or two old, the runner can simply be cut off the parent plant.

However, to keep a succession of new plants to replace older ones as they become less productive, it is a good idea to keep some of the runners attached.

Lay the runners out on the soil and peg them down on either side of the plantlets that are growing along the length.

These will quickly root over the next few weeks and by the end of the summer will be ready to be cut away from the parent plant and planted into their permanent position.

 

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors.

With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

8am, BBC2, Around The World In 80 Gardens.

Monty Don visits the garden of artist Burle Marx.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

9am, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Featuring the day lily.

9.30am, BBC2, The Beechgrove Garden. The programme visits a community garden by Loch Long.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Eric Robson and panellists Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood and Matthew Wilson answer questions from the audience in Antrim.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chris Beardshaw, Bob Flowerdew and Matthew Wilson advise gardeners from Norfolk. Peter Gibbs chairs the discussion.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Carol Klein meets plant collector Michael Wickenden who, since 1987, has travelled the world for the unusual plants that now fill his walled garden in the Gatehouse of Fleet on the Scottish Borders. Meanwhile Monty Don shows the best way to cut hedges and advises on other garden jobs to do over the bank holiday weekend.