Has the gardening bug bitten you this spring? Starting a garden can be a bit overwhelming, so here are some tips to address common questions:
First up: what should you plant? Herbs are an excellent choice, being easy to grow, scented and highly productive – basil, coriander, dill and parsley from seeds or, for plants, chives, rosemary and thymes are particularly rewarding. Herbs need plenty of sun.
Planting generously is important, as plants modify their surroundings to suit their growth. Willing, economical choices include annuals, cornfield wildflowers, cosmos, sunflowers and nasturtiums, and quick-growing beetroot, chard, lettuce, rocket and spinach. Courgette and tomato plants are usually fairly inexpensive and highly productive.
Caring for soil can be daunting. Good soil is dark and crumbly and feels silky when squeezed in your hand.
Gritty, sandy soil falls apart when you squeeze it. It will need watering and feeding, but using plenty of compost or composted manure dug in or as a mulch greatly improves results.
There’s a huge selection of seeds to choose from (Photo: Tim Sandall/RHS)Clay squeezes into a solid mass, but waiting until it is dry-ish but not too dry makes it more crumbly and allows for mixing in some compost or composted manure that will preserve that crumbliness. Water it if it gets too dry and try again. Even so, plants are often an easier option than seeds in clay soils.
For containers, buy the best (usually, unfortunately, the most expensive) potting compost available. Seasoned gardeners can coax fair results from most potting composts, but new gardeners will appreciate the benefits of the best potting compost.
Sunshine is everything for plants. The label is usually very helpful – seed packets and plants carry guidance with respect to light levels. Flowers and vegetables need plenty of light – six hours of sunshine each day in June.
However, there are other plants that grow well enough in shade, even dry shade beneath trees; periwinkle (Vinca, right), elephant’s ears (Bergenia) and male fern (Dryopteris affinis) are reliable choices. Water them well in their first year, though. Plants seldom thrive beneath evergreen conifers or other evergreen trees.
Living things are, by their nature, unpredictable and sometimes seeds don’t emerge and losses occur among newly planted areas.
Preparation counts: water dry soil several hours before sowing and planting. Wait for soggy soil to drain a little before planting or sowing. Avoid sowing too deeply and planting with more than a finger’s width of soil over the root ball of new plants. Firm the soil lightly after planting and then water.
Subsequently use your trowel to see how the soil is drying and whether watering is needed. You will soon get your eye in and can check less frequently. Summer rain seldom fully replenishes the soil, so be ready to water except after heavy rain.
Herbs are a wonderful option (Photo: Tim Sandall/RHS)Weeds peak in early June, so hoe bare soil from May. The germinating seeds are very sensitive and this will kill them before they emerge, avoiding the need to pull up many large weeds. Winkle out perennial weeds – thistles and docks, for example – using a fork and trowel.
It may not always seem like it, but plants really, really want to survive, so aftercare is straightforward. As a rough guide, set or thin plants to half of their eventual height.
Even if thinning is done early and generously, many plants need staking, and the sooner the better. Invest in stakes and hoops, which are easier to use than canes and string – these are things that friends and family might buy if hints are dropped – before birthdays, for example.The RHS is a charity inspiring everyone to grow via its research, advisory, outreach, shows and gardens. For more information, visit: rhs.org.uk
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