Seed Time.

During the months of February and March, as I browse through all the new seed catalogues, my tongue hanging out, eyeing up the latest acquisitions - ‘must-haves’ for the keen gardener - I can understand how difficult it must be for people who have a large greenhouse or an allotment to fill. The choice is so great, it’s difficult not to get carried away and acquire too many packets of seeds.

Although we have a large garden I have never felt the need to own a greenhouse in order to bring on seeds. Instead I have sown seeds directly onto the soil where I wanted them to grow, or sown them in a nursery bed or in trays and pots, and transplanted them later whenever the plants had matured.

Next to our permanent strawberry bed, I have another bed where I grow a variety of salad crops, herbs and annuals. These change each year as the fancy takes me. Over the years, I have used it to grow staggered crops of lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, Spring onions, parsley, chives and leeks. Growing alongside these, there have been marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos, sweet William, sweet peas, wigwams of broad-beans and a variety of herbs.