2019 Snapdragons (the year not the number)

Snapdragons or better known as Antirrhinum are an easy flower to grow and they provide lots of colour with a distinctive scent. Good F1 plants can grow more than 2′ tall and if pinched out they bush out quite well. Available in a wide range of colours I try and grow the same colours together to enhance the effect.

Spring will be sprung on you as soon as the snow and frost disappears. But first we need less rain. There isn’t much you can do at the moment but hope that any bulbs and hardy plants like these primroses are quietly getting ready to burst forth. If you are keen to begin then your first job should be planning and organising.

I was tempted to cut the leaves from my hellebore a bit early this year but have decided to wait a bit longer. Here is a selection of 2018 flowers from RHS and my garden.

‘Organic Fruit and Vegetable Gardeners Year, The A Seasonal Guide to Growing What You Eat’ by Graham Clarke

In the UK it has been a fantastic year for flowers, no more so than an English favourite the Rose.

It has taken a long, hot, dry spell in my Yorkshire garden for me to catch on to the blinking obvious.

When is a weed not a weed? Well not very often if it is growing in the wrong place. If you have planted Persicaria then that is Knot a weed it is a notweed or not depending on your spelling.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

I hope my carrots will taste better than the pottery gnome variety. Gonsenheimer have not been grown in my garden before but as they are promoted as crack resistant I thought I would give them a go. The blurb says ‘a bunching variety producing heavy crops of smooth skinned, good flavoures bright orange roots.’  Just about what you need from a packet of Carrot seed. Sown now they can be harvested from end July until December.

 

It is possible to enjoy gardening without having a traditional garden. Budding new gardeners can get a lot of pleasure and experience from a simple approach to plants and growing.

Heather is an overlooked plant that can perform well in most gardens even though they generally prefer an acidic soil. They are evergreen plants that flower in pinks, purples and white.