The bare beginnings

planting the plot and sowing a lot- March

The word I would use to describe these last 4 weeks would be frenetic! seeds sowing took hold and I filled the tunnel with thousands of seed trays, whilst I waited with great expectation for the glint of green shoots. I began the mission of planting up the reimagined growing area. When stated this way described in a few short words you might be imagining a little afternoon potting and planting, however, this was a slightly more exhausting scenario, during which it felt like a heck of a lot of work was involved in condensing down the growing area from the 1.5 acres to 580m2. After a winter under tarp sheeting the area for this year's cutting patch was exposed in all its large bare glory.

Iam sure most people would plan a planting situation like this way in advance, creating lists measurements and designs, that would be the sensible approach. you might expect me to tell you I had all that information planned before the nice warm Friday when I decided to make a start on the new picking patch, but at that point all I had was a lot of over wintered plants which were becoming impatient to get in the ground.

At the end of October last year I strimmed down all the annuals, leaving the plant debris on the soil surface, then covering the whole area in tarp sheets. It is this process which prevents plant and most importantly weed growth. 4 months later the heavy task of removing the sheets began, the vast majority of the ground was cleared except for some very determined self-sown sweet williams and a few pesky docks which were easily dug out of the otherwise clear ground.

removing the tarps, rotivating in some beds defining planting area with string line

As there hadn’t been any roots in the ground over winter the soil had suffered quite significantly from flooding and compaction, and as I didn’t have enough compost to create the new beds in a no-dig method I hired a rotivator and cut the beds in with a light till to the soil surface. Then decanted wheelbarrow loads of 1-year-old horse manure onto each bed. Originally I thought about having round and curved beds but plummed for straight lines because longterm I suspect I will have to trim the edges with wood to hold grass growth back from the bed edges, I don’t fancy the prospect of edging all the beds every few weeks!.

The area now houses lots of beds of varying sizes I have since been becoming quite excited whilst planting up each bed with thier own “feel”. Beds have mixed plantings of shrubs, perennials, biennials and Hardy annuals that will be added to with Half Hardy Annuals as the weather warms. Some of the planting pallets I have included are as follows-

• Stormy seas-Blues & White- Delphinium magic fountain Dark blue, Eryingum Alpina, Ammi Majus, Larkspur Smokey eyes, Papaver Amazing grey, Nepeta Six hills, Hespiris white.

• Warm Pastels -Foxglove suttons Apricot, Larkspur mixed pastel, Hespiris Lilac, Papaver bridal silk, Campanula biennial pink Scabious lilac, Sapanoria Pink.

• Jewel Tones - Blue Lupin, Knautia melton, Scabious dark purple & Red, Agastache Liquorish, Cornflower Blackball, Echinacea Purple, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, Eyuonumus Spindel berry

These and the other beds will evolve with the season as they grow-in, I intend to fill any gaps with half-hardy annuals along with the addition of many Dahlias. I am the first to admit these beds are not as practical for cutting as the 1-meter-wide strips I used to grow in, but growing in different shapes and depths of bed has allowed me to create more textural rich planting combinations and they are more relatable to how many people would grow cut flowers in a home garden. Only time will tell how this will all look in summer but I am certainly enjoying the process of starting with a fresh approach.

March in the Propagating tunnel

Whilst the slightly more mature plants are being housed in the new beds outside the seed sowing is still in full swing in the propagating tunnels. This March in Yorkshire it has been quite a contrast to last year there has been many a frosty morning followed by quite a few lovely sunny days. Conditions in the polytunnel have been helping the seeds germinate and we are full to bursting with Hardy Annuals and Perennials.

All of these plants will be moving onto new homes over the next couple of weeks when they are released for sale on the website, then we move onto the next stage of our sowing schedule. From the first week of April, the Half Hardy Annual seed packets will begin to pop open as I fill trays with cosmos, zinnias, and Helycrisium to name just a few. Mid-April also marks my cut-off point for sowing the last succession of the old faithful hardy annuals, even though they will still germinate after this point I find that Hardy’s sown after mid-April never thrive as well as those sown earlier so we begin to prioritise sowing the heat-loving flowers past this point.

Hopefully, by the end of April, I will be able to show you a planting area covered in lots of green shoots, followed by a lot of flowers this summer.

Happy seed sowing and planting

Suzie x