Something Borrowed April 21, 2009

I don’t tend to refer to articles in the press and online media as I’m sure many people have enough of their own sources to be getting on with, and generally there aren’t that many articles that reference window boxes. But The Telegraph had a short interesting article in their online addition. Titled “Small Spaces” it shares the woes of the time between sparkling spring blooms and summer’s on-rush of colour.

There’s some pretty basic advice on pulling up the old bulbs – great information for me, a bit obvious for the seasoned gardener. When you’re just starting out you crave this kind of pedantic, step-by-step guide on how to do something.

The bit I found really interesting though

Seed Watch February 10, 2009

Oh the excitement. I know, hard to control yourself, isn’t it.

One week in and the first seedlings have poked their heads above the soil. The Geraniums were first to start and  a couple of French Marigolds and Verbena have followed.

They were sown in a one inch square plastic seed tray and there are 45 ‘pots’ in the tray. There might be better fitting trays on the market as I cut a few pots off to make sure it fit the propagator better.

Zinnia November 20, 2008

Zinnia

Not knowing anything about gardening, plants or planting meant that I went for a scattergun approach to flowers. In hindsight it was a good way to start because I picked up a lot of knowledge about a wide range of plants in a short space of time.

The Zinnia was just one of those flowers that looked good on the garden centre shelf and in the absence of any other information, or even an understanding of where it was going to be planted, back it came with me.

A couple were planted in a spot that gets morning sun and although they took a while the first flowers were worth the wait, a deep yellow colour and about the size of my palm. That first one lasted well but once the next flowers came they were smaller and got a little more wind battered.