HARDY annuals fill gaps, replace any winter-ravaged perennials and colourfully brighten up the border. We can either sow them or buy plants. It’s always easier to buy and plonk plants in a bed. But with rising inflation and soaring fuel prices, sowing seed is more attractive. A pack of 125 Calendula officinalis ‘Indian Prince’ seed costs £1.95, and the seed lasts for years. You’ll cough up £6.95 for 5 seedlings.
If you’ve the facilities to go for the cheap, and better option, start sowing soon in a greenhouse, cold frame or even a windowsill. Some varieties can be direct sown in May. But avoid an autumn sowing for early flowering the following year, as is often recommended. In Scotland, the young plants rarely survive our winter in good condition.
As ever, some varieties are a doddle and others less so. When sowing and bringing on under protection, we usually sow in a seed tray and then prick out into pots, modules or root trainers. Almost fill a seed tray with peat-free seed compost, tamp down and water with a very fine rose.
Sowing depth depends on the seed size. Centaurea cyanus, corn flower, seed is quite large, and easy to sow thinly, then cover with compost to a depth 2-3 times greater than the seed. Leave in a bright, frost-free place, watering regularly to keep compost moist but not wet.
Once the first pair of true leaves has grown, prick out into a container, holding a leaf, never the stem. Sink so leaves are just above ground level. Grow on till you can plant out in mid-late May.
A few varieties, like Nigella, Love-in-a-Mist, don’t tolerate pricking out. Sow very thinly in modules and thin by using scissors. Enjoy a succession with others, like Cerinthe, by sowing some indoors and others directly in the ground in May.
Plant of the week
Sea kale, Crambe maritima, an early spring delicacy, grows naturally at the back of shingly beaches. Once abundant in Scotland and sold at the Edinburgh market, only a few clumps remain in Fife and the Solway estuary.
Sea kale dies back in winter. In January, winter storms covered the emerging shoots with shingle, blanching stems and keeping them sweet and tender, preventing the bitterness they’d have otherwise. I copy this by covering the crowns with a large terracotta pot and in April, cut all the 30-40cm tall blanched stems to the ground and sautée in butter or oil. The plant throws up attractive blue-green foliage with large umbels of honey-scented tiny white flowers, magnets for pollinators.
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