The golden rule for planting is that when the weeds get going, conditions will be optimal for seeds, bulbs and shrubs too.
Well, the weeds are now up and running, so lose no time in getting your spring planting started.
To paraphrase William Morris, have nothing in your garden that you do not believe to be beautiful (in scent, form or colour) or know to be delicious. Most London gardens are small; make the space work.
The good news is that the big retailers have brilliant affordable plant, bulb and seed selections; many offer plants by name, not just by type and give the option of single colour, rather than mixed selections. They’re excellent value. However, many retailers only sell growing plants in-store.
But first, the preparation. You need decent compost to give your plants a good start. Make it no-peat; it’s the simplest step we can take to help the environment.
For reliable results, bulbs and tubers are easiest.
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Compost
Dalefoot peat-free wool compost for vegetables and salad
Dalesfoot Wool Compost is bracken-based, mixed with wool for water retention, plus comfrey for fertiliser and so is excellent. There’s a range for all purposes. Try the Peat Free Wool Compost for Vegetables and Salads.
Buy now £21.98, Waitrose
Carbon Gold biochar compost - 10 litres
Carbon Gold biochar is an organic compost with seaweed with excellent environmental credentials. The seed compost gives seedlings the best start.
Buy now £32.97, Crocus
Homebase Peat Free Multi-Purpose Compost - 50L
Homebase does a good, peat-free all-purpose compost at an affordable price tag. You can’t go wrong here.
Buy now £7.00, Homebase
Peonies
These are extraordinarily beautiful showstoppers: reliable, fragrant and productive, and insanely expensive to buy as cut flowers. Grow your own.
Crocus Sorbet Paeonia Collection
If you’d like a fabulous bunch of peonies, this collection of three from Crocus includes the inevitable, lovely Sarah Bernhardt; deep red Karl Rosenfield; and the unbelievably classy scented Duchesse de Nemours. You’ll save a fortune on cut flowers.
Buy now £22.95, Crocus
Dahlias
These are among the most beautiful and productive flowers. They have terrifically long-flowering with a fabulous range of colours and shapes. They flourish in a sunny corner. But if you want to encourage bees and pollinating insects, go for the open-face sort, especially the ones designated Bishops.
Peony Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff Flower bulb, Pack of 2
If it’s a selection of dahlias you’re after, you can’t do better than this vibrant collection of four varieties, including two open-faced dahlias that attract insects. Together, they’d make a lovely bouquet.
Buy now £3.50, B&Q
Sarah Raven Arthur’s Doorstep Dahlia Collection
If it’s a selection of dahlias you’re after, you can’t do better than this vibrant collection of four varieties, including two open-faced dahlias that attract insects. Together, they’d make a lovely bouquet.
Buy now £21.95, Sarah Raven
Iris 'Black Dragon' bearded iris
There are so many varieties of iris, but my very favourite are the deep, rich, dark flowers that are terrifically sophisticated.
Try the Black Dragon, a gorgeous blue-black form.
Buy now £6.98, Crocus
Clouds of Scent Sweet Pea Mix
Among the most fragrant flowers you can grow, the Clouds of Scent Sweet Pea Mix is enormously floriferous with a wonderful range of colours. Cheapest to grow from seed, obviously, but if you haven’t time and space, Sarah Raven offers seedlings in very good quality collections. Make sure to water them well on arrival.
Buy now £16.95, Sarah Raven
Roses
Well, obviously, roses. And we’ve all got our favourites. But this is where I’d go for broke, with two fantastically beautiful varieties, one climbing, one shrub.
Rosa 'Souvenir du Docteur Jamain'
A favourite of the great gardener Vita Sackville West, a dark red climbing rose with a rich old rose scent. It flourishes on a north-facing wall, out of strong sunshine. A bit temperamental, but a divine colour.
Buy now £39.98, RHS Plants
Olivia Rose Austin English Shrub Rose
This is a lovely rose if you’re into striking pink. It’s healthy and reliable, with cupped rosette-shaped flowers and a light fruity fragrance. Plus it starts flowering early in the season. Rather good for Valentine’s Day too. If buying bare-root, plant on quickly.
Buy now £23.00, David Austin
Salvia 'Nachtvlinder'
These are perhaps the best border flowers of all, in a range of heights, with some of the most intense colours you’ll find. The velvety rich purples are my favourite, but I hear it for the vivid blues too. Good to underplant roses.
Buy now £18.99, Crocus
Chocolate Cosmos Flower Bulb
Yes, I’m coming to Cosmos under seeds, but do consider the Chocolate Cosmos, a lovely chocolatey red with a sweet, chocolatey scent, which comes as tubers.
Buy now £4.00, Homebase
Seeds
As far as I’m concerned, the best flower seeds are the ones you can chuck on the ground and leave to fend for themselves. There are any number of very good seed mixes you can buy which enable you to do just that, including ranges that are insect, butterfly or generally pollinator friendly. That’s the easy-peasy approach. But for single variety flowers, I’m similarly free and easy. Vegetables are another matter: here you either need to germinate at home or plant in rows and thin out. Seed tapes can space out seeds for you and you just plant a strip of paper; a very useful device.
Here are three easy flower seeds varieties, plus three good compact vegetables. Plus two seed tape options.
Cosmos
Cosmos are some of the easiest, most reliable cutting flowers you can grow: terrifically floriferous and easy to grow. If you can’t be bothered with the faff of staking and supporting taller varieties, opt for more compact sizes.
Our favourites are the Cosmos Sensation Pinkie (£2.40) and Sweet Kisses (£2.40).
Buy now £2.75, Homebase
The Real Flower Company Flowerbed Filler Seed Mix
Yes, I know this seems a lot for seeds, but there’s a large mix here of easy-to-grow, pollinator-friendly colourful flowers to fill a bed. The great thing is, you just scatter the seeds and leave them to it. My kind of gardening.
Buy now £25.00, The Real Flower Company
Country Living Poppy Paeony Black Seeds
Easy to grow, flourishing on disturbed soil, they’re delicate, crumple-petalled, ephemeral splashes of vivid colour. The dark peony forms are crackers.
Buy now £2.40, Homebase
Vegetables
Grow your own veggies with far less space than you’d think and most importantly of all, without compromising on flavour.
Try these:
Dwarf Hestia Runner Beans (£1)
Dwarf French bean (£3.25)
Courgette Royal Flush compact (£1)
Buy now £3.25, Homebase
Seed Tape
Sarah Raven does seed tape for some vegetables, which saves fiddling around trying to space them out.
Carrot Nantes 6m seed tape (£3.95)
Spring Onion North Holland Blood Red 6m tape (£3.50)
Buy now £3.95, Sarah Raven
Sarah Raven Best Summer Lettuces Mix 15 Seedlings
You can buy this selection of excellent lettuces (the supermarket varieties are a bit samey, no?) as seeds, but getting ready-grown seedlings saves a lot of faff although it’s undoubtedly less economical. Top tip, when you’re harvesting lettuce, cut the leaves around the circumference rather than pulling up entire heads; that way they last longer.
Buy now £14.95, Sarah Raven
