3
GARDENING
OF THE
BEST
The onion family is a stalwart of the
vegetable garden, but also has a place in
the flower garden. The dramatic heads
are loved by florists.
Try Allium caeruleum with bright blue
heads, it looks lovely grown in a container.
Allium christophii creates a frozen
firework display with it's enormous flower
heads bursting out of a border, whilst
A.cernum with pendulous heads of
sugar pink flowers produces a number of
flowering stems from the same bulb in
early July.
Annual event
nt time to make
Early June is an excelle
ring plants to
a sowing of annual flowe
to provide cut
fill up gaps in borders or
Zinnias can be
flowers for your home.
detest having
prima donna-ish, they
nsplanted .
their roots disturbed if tra
two weeks of
Sown direct in the first
better chance
June they stand a much
in a variety of
of succeeding, available
ll as the aptly
succulent colours as we
a good lime
named 'Envy' which is
water the seed
green . Sow in rows and
htly with soil or
drill before covering lig
compost.
Succession success
There's a strong temptation when sowing
vegetable seeds to sow the entire packet
at once, resulting in a glut of unwanted
seedlings. Sowing fewer seeds in succession
through the season is the way to ensure
that you keep producing young and tender
crops. Try this with radishes, rocket, lettuce,
beetroot and chard. Be ruthless with older
plants and pull them out as soon as they
start to look worn out, making room for
another short row of tender beauties to
harvest. Radishes also make useful markers
for slower germinating seeds such as
cabbages.
Scents and sensibility
Scented plants always add an extra dimension to a
garden; you may have guessed that it's one of the
things I love most. Heliotrope has a rich 'cherry pie'
fragrance and dense heads of flowers in white, lilac or
purple. Water and feed generously and provide some
shelter from scorching sunshine.
Scented geraniums can be found in rose, lemon,
mint and chocolate varieties to name just a few. The
fragrance comes from the foliage not the flowers; the
leaves are often attractively shaped or marked and both
leaves and flowers can be used in cooking or salads.
Lemon balm has a refreshing scent and generally
pest free foliage, a useful foil to more colourful but
unscented plants such as fuchsias. It also makes a
reviving tea at the end of a long day’s weeding.
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