Pat Duke: Forget the rain and seize the moment to plan your planting

In the Garden

If you meet another gardener at the moment all the talk is of the unprecedented amount of rain we’ve had and how the best gardening accessory might be a snorkel. Whilst were pacing up and down the kitchen looking frustratingly through the rain
beaded windows it gives us a bit of extra time to get planning. Planting is best done in layers, starting with trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and then bulbs (summer and spring varieties). So it’s best to start from that viewpoint.

Another factor that popped up in a discussion this week was plants that should be in every garden and don’t seem to be phased by different or unconventional circumstances. My first thought was Salvia ‘Amistad”, a tall shrub like perennial that has long trinkets of indigo flowers that adds the addition of fragrance for free. In summer I can’t remember seeing it without a bee imitating a pole vaulter on it. Another must have is Geranium ‘Rozanne’. Every garden seems to have a geranium and even if its not a cultivated variety the chances are a weed variety like Herb Robert has blown in and made itself comfortable. Rozanne will happily wander all over a bed and can be cut back hard without making much difference to its easy going nature. They prefer light shade to create their flimsy violet blue petals and are famously underplanted alongside roses or filling a gap anywhere.

Lavender is often thought of as a plant that reminds us of a grandmother or something to stick in a pot and forget about. Having said that it’s seems to be in every garden. A more adventurous idea is to make a lavender hedge which is simply to plant them shoulder to shoulder in a sunny spot underfilled with good drainage. This can follow the route of a path and will offer that floral scent as you walk by running your fingers through the flowers. There are so many reliable, low maintenance plants that they have their own genre. It’s just a case of choosing something you can’t do without.

On the Plot

The ongoing deluge means that we can be getting on with indoor sowings while we wait for the beds to dry out. Dwarf beans can be sown in pots and will thrive when transferred to larger, say, 20cm/8inch pots. Keep remembering to succession sow brassicas, lettuce and salad leaves to keep the supply chain going. Spring onions (White Lisbon) can be included in this . I
grow them all year round given how expensive they are now and how versatile they can be in the kitchen.

April can be a tricky time for deciding if the frosts have passed and when to put your potatoes in. The traditional time is Good Friday but that was more to do with workers being off and available. Make your own judgement in respect of frost but I would suspect that by the time the swamp has dried out they can go in. Keep the fleece handy just in case you need to rush down there and cover seedlings in case it feels Baltic and might wipe out your fledgling harvest. All this water will most definitely have an effect on the slug and snail population so it might be prudent to plant extra seedlings just in case.

Every year the veg plot throws up different results based on the conditions and this year might mean dealing with molluscs more efficiently. Whilst we re not there, they're basking in ideal conditions so use whatever method you find acceptable until the starlings reappear from their currently dwindling numbers. Looking at the longer term forecast its predicted that a mini heatwave is due shortly so we will have long forgotten about this damp weather and will soon be back to normal in shorts and shirtsleeves.