Conjure up a fab display – from the palm of your hand
THERE’S no need to order up heaps of herbaceous perennials if you want to create a summer border from scratch – you can do it with no more seed than it takes to fill the palm of your hand. The quickest, easiest and cheapest way to inject some colour is to sow hardy annuals – all you need is a few packets of seeds, which, thankfully, can still be ordered online as we’re all pretty much stuck at home.
There’s a massive range available, from straight varieties – Californian poppies (eschscholzia), love-in-a-mist (nigella), poached egg plant (limnanthes) and many other types of poppy – to seed mixes that perform a specific function, such as attracting bees, butterflies or have flowers suitable for cutting.
Most prefer a sunny spot and aren’t particularly fussy about the type of soil, as long as it’s freedraining. Prepare the ground for sowing by breaking up the surface with a fork and then raking until you are left with a fine, level and even finish. Make sure you remove any weeds, large stones and other debris along the way.
For a high-impact border, mark out a paisley-style pattern on the surface with a trail of sand or the tip of a cane. Sow a different variety in each section, raking lightly into the ground to cover. In order to achieve a balanced display, make sure larger species are placed at the back and smaller ones at the front.
If you would prefer to create a cutting garden with a ready supply of flowers for picking and display indoors, then it’s better to sow seeds in straight lines across the bed. Not only does it make cutting the blooms easier but you can leave 2ft gaps between different species to be used as paths for easy access.
It’s possible to make a shallow trench for sowing by eye, but for accuracy, stretch a builders’ string line (two canes and a piece of string will do at a push) over the ground as a guide and then make a ½ in-deep gully using a garden cane. Sow seeds thinly along the base and cover over with soil.
After sowing, water gently using the sprinkler head on a watering can. When they are about ½ in tall, seedlings will need thinning out to ease overcrowding. Tug up a few of them to leave a 1in gap between those remaining. Thin out again in about six weeks, this time leaving a final space of 6in between young plants.
Deadhead hardy annuals often to prolong flowering, feed occas i onally with an al l - purpose l i quid plant food, and water regularly, especially during dry, hot and sunny periods. Once the floral spectacle is over, hoick out plants to prevent them from self-seeding.
Mr Fothergill’s (mr-fothergills. co.uk); Thompson & Morgan (thompson-morgan.com).