Light relief: It's time to enjoy the perfect antidote to modern life

In the Garden

Now the clocks have changed, we’ve got our evenings back to potter in the garden or stride optimistically down to the allotment after work. As gardening is the antidote to modern life, the equinox is an important milestone for everyone's health and wellbeing so we definitely need to make the most of it. Think of all those sunlit evenings digging and processing the emotional baggage from the week before basking in a chair with a cool drink feeling satisfied with life. 

Although dry weather still seems like a speck on the distant horizon we can still be planting seeds indoors. In our house this period usually starts with a ‘try not to get compost everywhere’ and ends with a ‘it's those plants or you’ guidance from my wife, which is when I know they're ready for outdoor planting. 

April is the optimum time for seed sowing and sowing annuals now will give you a longer flowering season as you'll be planting the established plants and broadcasting seeds directly into the ground when May arrives. 

Zinnia ‘mammoth’ are the jewel of any flower patch and can be well supported by Cosmos ‘purity’ that particularly contrasts all other colours well. Salvias and Scabious either keep coming or go on forever. Poppies will look after themselves and self seed for next year and Nicotiana will provide evening scent and both low down colour (Sensation) and tall white trumpets (Sylvrstris). Tithonia ‘torch’ will give you late colour and works well towering over the back of the beds as late as October and even November. 

Sowing sunflowers with children is a traditional Easter holiday rainy day activity but be warned, you'll probably need to look after them until they take the credit in August. There are so many varieties now than just the reliable ‘Giant single’ I particularly like the deeper crimson varieties like ‘Black magic’ and ‘Red sun’. Many suppliers offer a pack of mixed varieties which can add to the excitement if you’re comfortable living on the edge!

On the Plot

Home grown tomatoes are a gift from God, not just for the sweet, tart bright blushed red fruits, but for the mystery of the growing process and vagaries of each variety. 

To prevent heartbreak try to grow a few blight resistant varieties, a cherry, and a beefsteak as well as ‘Gardeners delight’ just because everyone does. 

‘Brutus’ is a beefsteak that I've been familiar with for several years and I keep its seed every year for sumptuous and very heavy fruit that needs direction with canes more often than not. 

Honeycomb seem to taste of honeycomb and are the sweetest variety of cherry sized fruits. However, if you, like many gardeners, don't have the luxury of a greenhouse, outdoor varieties are perfectly acceptable and can usually be sown a few weeks later. With the cold and wet weather I’m sowing mine all together now and hoping for late summer sun to ripen them. ‘Alicante’ and ‘Ailsa Craig’ both thrive in our warmer climate but they will need some protection and support in case of unexpected weather systems. 

In order to feed these you might want to grow some comfrey in a patch to easily make the disgusting smelling ‘tea’ that will save you a small fortune on commercial tomato feed. Be warned they can spread all over the plot as they are prolific self seeders but just replant them in the patch or how over them as you would weeds. 

We can really start hard core gardening tasks as soon as the rain relents. The soil will be perfect for planting seedlings and drop in plants given the water table is definitely high enough for roots to locate moisture and nutrients to produce bumper harvests of flowers and food crops. Soon all will be as it should be.