Rob Smith reveals how he plans to fill up his new borders
I’m planning for plenty of perennials and pots of succulents…
Over the past few weeks I’ve had a real mix of weather, from snow and ice to lovely warm, sunny days where I’ve needed only a light jacket in the garden. It’s no wonder this time of year can result in many gardeners getting too adventurous, and fools many of us into planting things out, only to have a hard frost kill them off.
This year, as well as vegetables I’m also growing lots of herbaceous plants to fill my new garden borders. I want a good mix of plants that will attract pollinators to my veg patch and be economical. I decided to buy many of them bare-rooted and pot them up. I simply soak plants in a bucket of water for an hour or two, then pot them on into 2-litre pots of multi-purpose compost mixed with John Innes No 3 and keep them in a cold greenhouse or cold frame to allow them to grow comfortably. I’ve chosen white and blue buddlejas for their pollinator-attracting properties, as well as the variety ‘Flower Power’, which is a beautiful purple and yellow bi-coloured variety; it adds colour, height (up to 2m/6½ft) and interest to the garden. I’ve also potted up echinops, eryngium, hardy geraniums and echinacea roots to give me lots of plants for a fraction of the price of buying them later in the year from a garden centre. After all, when you can buy these from several shops for only £1 each, why wouldn’t you want to have a go at potting them on? As well as preparing for the months ahead, I always like to have some instant interest in the garden, so I’ve been creating sempervivum (houseleek) bowls. These geometric rosettes are fantastic for growing in shallow dishes of gritty compost as they can withstand quite hot and cold conditions, just don’t let them stand in water as they hate the wet. I used a mix of cobweb ( S. arachnoideum) and regular (‘Pippin’) purple-tipped varieties topped with decorative bark, but you can use gravel or grit to improve the drainage.
Then simply place the bowls near to the house or greenhouse (mine is on top of a water butt), so you can appreciate them every day.