Seeds to sow now

Many seed companies still seem to be having stock or delivery problems, so you may have to wait for seeds you order now.

Check before ordering that the seeds you want will be fine if they’re planted in a few weeks’ time.

Suttons Speedy Veg Leaf Salad Stir Fry Mix, for example, can be planted from now until the end of September. It’s a mix of cut-and-come-again salad/ stir fry leaves, and says that it’ll be ready to eat in three weeks. I usually find that means four weeks, but perhaps that is just me.

Beetroot, radish and kale are good to sow from seed now, but spinach tends to bolt in a hot summer, so don’t sow any in the next few weeks.

This is a good time to plant seeds for your winter pots. A few pots of pansies last all winter long and they are such good value if you grow them from seed.

Although pansies are easy and cheap to buy from supermarkets in the autumn, you can get something really special if you grow them from seed now.

I particularly like Chalon Supreme Wild Berry Mix pansies from Thompson & Morgan (Thompson-morgan.com), which are a mix of deep reds frilled with white.

They also sell the increasingly popular Pansy Black Moon, which is black with a yellow centre.

When looking for seeds to sow now, I found a frustrating number of seed varieties were unavailable or out of stock on most of the seedselling websites I checked. So I’m pleased to report that Sarah Raven (sarahraven.com) has a “seeds to order now” facility. All the seeds in this section are in stock, though there may be a delivery delay of three to five days.