Planting out and shower dodging

Prize-winning veg from the allotment and a smaller garden in Greater Manchester with impressive summer bedding.

This time of the year is all about planting and I’ve, thankfully, been able to get on with it between showers.

On the allotment I’ve planted ‘Show Perfection’ peas and all the tender veg – runner beans, climbing French beans, marrows, courgettes and sweetcorn. I’ve also planted about 60 sweet peas and more than 100 dahlias!

I’ve been planting some of the annuals that I grow for showing but I haven’t finished them yet. All the planting on the plot was held up by having to weed the beds first. The dahlia bed and annual beds took a long time. Some of the winter onions are ready for harvesting and we’ve had some lettuces.

I’ve planted the front garden at home with bedding. A big job has been planting hanging baskets and other containers. I’ve done nearly 40 hanging baskets! I’ve 12 of my own and the rest were for my daughter, who lives in Wales, and for friends and neighbours.

Planting hanging baskets is a job I can do if it’s showery because I work under the car port. I’ve grown a lot of the plants for them from seed or cuttings, but bought some from our local garden centre as well. I got some surfinias and diascias and took over 100 cuttings from them.

The tubs and other pots have done well this year with spring plants, but they’ve now been replaced by summer plants – geraniums, fuchsias, petunias, begonias and many more. A number of these can be planted under the car port, too.

Now that all the overcrowded bedding and other tender plants are out of the greenhouses it gives me more room to work. On the staging in the propagating greenhouse there are trays, which have been upside down up to now, but I’ve turned them the right way up and put a layer of grit in them. This creates the moist atmosphere that plants need in summer – the opposite to what they need in winter and spring.

Now there’s extra room I’ve been able to give more attention to the plants too, tidying them up and potting them into larger pots if needed. I still have plenty of spare bedding, particularly dahlias, but I’m having a plant stall which will make money for the church.

Diascia have had cuttings taken from them – more pretty plants to come! Hybrid Tea rose ‘Selfridges’ in bu ercup yellow

Bounteous bedding such as primulas brings me colour Just look at these huge onions I harvested