Rainbow chard

Rainbow Chard

Of all the plants that are both delicious and beautiful, rainbow chard is one of the few which fall into the all-important third category of being ridiculously easy to grow as well. This is an absolute winner to fill gaps in borders as well as in the veg plot, with beautiful, jewel-like stems when the sun hits them.

The leaves can be blanched, chopped roughly and added to pretty much anything, from risottos to omelettes. 

You can sow them direct into well prepared, well watered ground right now, giving them a good 30cm in which to grow. This is a great way of beefing up your borders with edible, beautiful bounty. Sow an inch deep, cover over and then watch carefully to keep them safe from munchers.

This is a cool season crop so if you can mulch your damp soil with something (grass clippings are fine) then your plants will thank you for it.

You can also sow them in small pots to keep them away from marauding slugs and snails when they are tiny babies. Grow them on until they have a good root system (one that holds the soil within a 3 inch pot together). Plant them out into the garden, water in well and enjoy until it’s time to chop. You can of course cut off leaves singly, as and when you need them, but if you chop the entire plant close to the ground it will eventually spring up again with new leaves. If you can’t face that all that chard in one go, simply chop it up and freeze in small portions which you can then add directly into your bolognese sauce, or breakfast smoothie.

x Laetitia

How to make a mini meadow

How glorious it is to anticipate basking time. Our lawns hold so much value in terms of simple, unadulterated, good old fashioned joy, that it is worth thinking about how to get the most out of them, rather than just putting them in the “Oooh I MUST MOW” box. Of course there’s much more to it than that. If you want a perfect, bowling green-type sward, then you will have to spend time, money and much effort creating a monoculture. You will have to aerate, scarify, remove weeds and moss, re-seed, fertilise, correct imperfections and mow, mow, mow, and you will also have to be mindful that all this work leaves you enough time to sit on your lawn (if you can bear to let yourself). 

 Nobody can deny that the aesthetic benefits of a neat lawn are huge. There is no other single job that will lift a garden out of messy and into neat as easily and quickly as mowing your lawn and creating a few crisp edges. It allows you to be almost entirely slatternly in the borders and it gives you that happy feeling of being in control. But don’t go thinking that the alternative is to let it all go to rack and ruin. There is a space we can all happily inhabit in between, and by ‘all’ I’m thinking about wildlife, as well as you, and your children and your picnics and ball games. If your lawn is a good size, consider creating different areas, keeping some parts nice and short (good for rolling around, and kicking balls, and ground-nesting bees, and hedgehogs) and letting the grass grow long in other places (good for insects and birds that feed on them, and pretty Instagram photos). This is what I call a zero-fuss, totally free ‘meadow’.

Mini-meadow how-to

 When you start cutting the lawn, begin with the highest setting possible, and move down incrementally from there. Get to a stage where the grass to two or three inches in height, removing and composting any mowings, and then leave it alone from late May or early June onwards, for the whole summer. It’s not a wildflower meadow by any stretch, but it will provide a mini-jungle for all sorts of wildlife and add interest to your lawn. As long as you cut the short bits with panache, creating clean lines and a stark contrast between long and short, then it will look intentional, and therefore a feast for the eyes. Mowing around the edge of a lawn and leaving the centre long is a great first step, but sweeping paths, mazes or geometric designs are all possible with a little forethought.

If you love the whole meadow vibe, and decide that it’s definitely for you in the future, then consider replacing your long grass with a soil-appropriate wildflower turf from wildflowerturf.co.uk. in the future.

x Laetitia

How to talk about Climate Change with Children

I’ve held off writing this post for so long, mostly because I feel unqualified - like I ought to read every single study and article on this subject before I add my two cents worth. But then it struck me that as a parent, and a lover of planet earth, I am just as qualified to write about this as anyone else, using my human brain and my gut instinct (which I am learning to listen to rather more closely as I get older). The other day, after an emotional chat with my ten year old, I put out a plea on Twitter for advice on how to comfort my girl in the face of her fears for planet earth and its future (and consequently her generation’s). I got so many great ideas and responses that I promised to put them all in a post, for those facing similar fears. All of the suggestions fell roughly into three areas, and for what it’s worth, here they are.

Note: If you don’t want to read this, then please DO click on the links at the bottom of this post - there is some really good stuff down there!

1. Shield them from the doom

There is very little wisdom in burdening children, (particularly small ones) with the enormity of this devastating information unless a real effort is made and steps taken to provide them with some hope and solutions. This means that schools and parents wishing to inform their charges about the state we’re in really need to think hard about the way in which they present the information. Small children’s brains are not developed sufficiently to put them in a position to absorb this information and not become traumatised by it and consequently shut down from it. There is evidence that the younger we are taught about climate change, the less likely we are to do anything about it. It’s as if there ‘s a self-preservation switch in those little brains which turns off, to protect them from the devastating truth. Having read all of the links that were sent to me (I’ll link them all below) it seems fairly obvious that if we want to raise a generation of eco-warriors (rather than eco-worriers) we need delay exposing them to these messages until they are at least 11 or 12, and even then, present them alongside real and action-based solutions. Access to, and knowledge of local and international organisations who are making a real difference (and they are) is essential, as is access to, and knowledge of ADULTS in positions of power and authority, who are affecting change. I cannot stress enough, that although children may act and look beyond their years in their tweens and teens, they are STILL CHILDREN, children who need to know that there are at least SOME adults who are listening to them and who care about planet earth, rather than just money, and who have their backs. Knowing that they are not alone, but part of a massive movement is essential in preventing depression and/or apocalyptic behaviour.

2. Get active

So many people suggested practical steps we could take in order to give young people a sense of power over the situation. Greta Thunberg’s Fridays For Future are a great example of this, (you don’t have to go to big demonstrations…just turn up at your local town hall). But of course, actions can be as simple as the things we are ALL doing in order to be a part of the solution for climate change; reducing waste, reducing our meat and dairy consumption, being mindful about what we buy and where it’s come from, taking part in a sharing economy, using what we have…all of these things, practiced imperfectly by many millions of us, will help. A child can be made aware of the need for this type of action WITHOUT laying it on thick about climate change. For example, we want to reduce our waste because then there won’t be so much rubbish; we want to eat less meat because the meat that is good for us comes from livestock that’s had a good life, and that meat is more expensive, so we eat less of it, and value it more…etc, etc. One person said that her 12 year old child habitually asks shop-keepers where their produce is from, and whether they could guarantee it was ethically produced. This is an immensely powerful action, really calling others to account, standing up and demanding that we all think hard about the products we consume or sell. This type of stuff needs to be built on a solid foundation of knowledge that every action, EVERY action matters, and that together, we will find a way out of this.

3. Take a BALANCED view

You know what? People are out there doing BIG things and causing BIG change! I’m going to say something really unpopular here, but opinions are simply opinions. We need to be teaching our children to understand the news with that knowledge, and the sure conviction that headlines are THERE to grab our attention. Of COURSE they’re going to splash the most dramatic stuff at the top but we need to read ON (if it’s good journalism) and find out the facts behind the headlines, because they are always nuanced. If it’s bad jounalism then children need to understand the concept of writing stuff SIMPLY TO SELL MORE NEWSPAPERS, (or advertising space, or whatever). Nobody sane is denying climate change, but there is an awful lot of sloppy stuff going on when it comes to reporting the facts. When a child is bombarded with messages of doom, let’s teach them to scour that message for FACTS, for what we KNOW to be TRUE. And let’s also teach them to sleuth around for the other, less attention-grabbing stuff that’s going on… the slow, steady march of an army of millions of people doing what they can, imperfectly, every day. Yes, I agree with Greta when she says she WANTS us to panic, to act as though our house were on fire. She was directing those remarks to ADULTS, and powerful adults at that. It’s my view that if we’re not very careful with how we approach this subject around our children, we will end up with a generation of terrified, traumatised humans who will be a far cry from the resilient, resourceful ones we need them to become in order to continue the work we’re doing.

4. Get outdoors with your children!

It’s a no-brainer. Children who are brought up from an early age with a love for nature are OBVIOUSLY going to be in a better position to help preserve it. This is a really wide idea…it could be gardening with your child (euch!) or letting them play in the dirt, or walking in nature regularly, or growing your own pea shoots, or just SHUTTING UP for a bit and going outside and listening to the birds. It doesn’t matter what it is, because children are naturally drawn to the outdoors - all it needs is for US to let them outside.

Some links

An article about the amazing Joanna Macy, whose book Active Hope lays out simple steps we can take to help, AND stay positive and sane. Here is a breakdown of the contents.

This blogpost from @wildwoodchildhood which I happened upon, via instagram the very day my daughter came to me with what was troubling her.

This brilliant and well-researched article by Maria Ojala, a specialist in how young people and climate change, brought to my attention by a Twitter friend,

My favourite scented standard shrubs for containers

I love a standard shrub - stop reading now if you don’t!

The lilacs I love and adore

I love the slightly cutesy, Alice in Wonderland air they give off, the lovely cloud-on-a-stick thing they do, and the fact that they resemble lollypops. A standard ‘tree’, depending on what it is, can give your garden, or entranceway instant gravitas or glamour, or silliness. They provide a second storey in a layered planting scheme - something to fill the space between flower-bed fodder and trees…but most of all, I like to use them in pairs, to flank a walkway, or entranceway where they give me a Beyonce feeling, as if there were two gorgeous extra people in my wake…as if I HAD a wake!

Lilac (Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’)

I’m writing this as my lilac standards are in full bloom (and yes, they were the catalyst for this post). Every year I get loads of questions about these two lilac standards. I bought them many years ago, from an advert in the back of a sunday supplement (you know the kind, where you can also order pale grey shoes and permanently pressed trousers if such things appeal). Anyway, They arrived as nothing more than a few leaves atop a stalk and I planted them without much hope for glory. But glory came, and continues to come, in abundance. The variety is Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’, which blooms each May with tiny, pale lilac flowers which pump out the most delectable scent. I have mine planted in two large barrel pots, but for the first few years of their life they lived in such smaller ones and were shamefully neglected (I mean I let them dry out a LOT when I was new to motherhood etc). They have forgiven me though. These would look totally awesome repeated ad infinitum in a courtyard garden, or indeed in groups of two flanking a pathway. Oh the joy.

Buddleia

I do love a buddleia…and so do the butterflies, but goodness they can put on some serious weight if they decide they like you, and obliterate everything else in sight. This makes them an ideal candidate for standard life, preferably in a container, where they can be, well, CONTAINED…(although of course, there’s no accounting for seedlings!). Again, we’re talking about something that will be bare over the winter and again, that’s fine, because a standard, even when bare, has structure, and can always be covered by a net of fairy lights over the winter. This is the ultimate wildlife friendly plant, pretty much indestructible and DEEPLY beautiful to boot. If I didn’t have so many populated pots I’d be plumping for one of these pronto. Oh and then there’s the scent - like a pot of honey on a warm afternoon. Mmmmmm.

Forsythia

I’m going to be quite honest here and say that this plant probably wouldn’t get a look in in its unfettered, unclipped form; it will grow to extremely unruly proportions unless you keep well on top of it and, because it only has a moment of glory, and because that moment is a YELLOW one, having it as a standard is really the only way a forsythia and I could ever be friends, but WHAT friends! I am totally against a mass of twigs with yellow on top (which is how most of us experience forsythia) but oh boy am I here for a lovely lollypop of twigginess which turns into a sizzling lemony explosion every spring! Imagine twelve of them all the way up your garden path! The utter joy of that almond fragrance, and the zingy colour hit, just as we emerge from a long winter. Again, when I get my gigantic garden in the sky, these will be on my list.

x Laetitia

Three more garden tools I can't do without

This is the second of two blogs on my favourite gardening tools…the ones I pull out every time I rush out for my five minute gardening fling. You can find the first three here.

1. Kneeler

fancy kneeler (un-fancy ones are available, but they’re not so fancy)

A kneeler is completely essential for me. I don’t get specially dressed for gardening, so I use a kneeler to stop my clothes from getting covered with dirt or wet, but it’s also vital for saving my ageing joints too. I also pull it out if it’s wet and I want somewhere to sit without getting a wet bottom. My kneeler is very old, a gift from Joules many years ago, but I found this kneeler, by Burgon and Ball, which is almost identical in size, and, crucially, has a handle for carrying it around, as well as hanging it up. Obviously there is lots of choice here - but I love canvas, and I love a print!

2. Hori hori knife

This is a truly excellent tool. It can be used as a trowel, a weeder, a bulb planter and it also has a serrated edge, which will cut stubborn roots underground and slash dead plant material at the end of the season. It’s a great option if you’re of the minimalist persuasion as it can do a serviceable impression of several different tools, including my beloved widger (see previous blog for a eulogy to this). My Hori hori knife is from Japeto and I can vouch for its brilliance and durability, but of course, there are other models available.

3. Edging shears

Okay. I know this is niche, but in the summer and autumn, these shears are an essential part of my five minute armoury. I love these Fiskars shears because you can swivel them around depending on which way you are cutting. Of course you can totally just use your kitchen scissors, but if you’re edging a lawn once a week over several weeks, it’s worth having a dedicated tool that makes this into a joy rather than a chore. They also have a model with long handles, so if you find crouching or bending difficult, you don’t have to.

x Laetitia

I do a weekly newsletter, full of all the five minute things I do to keep the garden going, along with a bit of personal stuff (mostly how hard I’m trying, and how catastrophically I’m failing, to be a good parent!)

My top three must-have garden tools

I've been thinking a lot about reducing the amount of STUFF that surrounds me, paring things, like clothes and shoes and books and oh, I dunno baking equipment - down to the essential. And it struck me that I don't seem to have the same hoarding problem with garden tools. Over the years I've whittled things down to just what I need, and what serves me. So I thought I would share my essential pieces, so that if any of you were thinking of treating yourselves to something for the garden it might inspire you. Having said that though, it's a very personal thing - lots of gardeners will think I am mad putting a 'widger' at the top of my list, I had a gardener friend once who said she absolutely couldn't garden unless she had a hand fork with her, and couldn't understand anyone who said otherwise. I duly went and got myself a hand fork, which gets used about twice a year (if that). Anyway, for what it's worth, here are the first three of my top six.

1. My Widger

My excellent widger tool

I've had this trowel thing for years. I own other trowels but I hardly ever use them. This one is not for digging holes per say, it is best for weeding out perennials like bindweed...chasing those brittle roots to their core and removing them complete (can you tell I'm getting a bit excited about the thought of that?) It's the only thing I use, other than a hoe, when I'm weeding. My widger is from Burgon and Ball but there are others available (this one from Spear and Jackson looks almost identical and is a little cheaper.

2. My secutaurs.

Fabulous secateurs

This is a non-negotiable; you need a pair, whether you're gardening on a windowsill or a massive garden. It doesn't matter what brand they are, as long as they're sharp and they feel good in your hand. Mine are P94 PowerGear Pruners from Fiskars (they’re the guys who make those awesome kitchen scissors, which I heartily recommend) and I love them. Keep them sharp with a stone (basically like an emery board for knives) - you can find all the products I use for tool cleaning and sharpening here.

3. My shears.

Brilliant shears

I use these for clipping topiary and trimming hedges and climbers, and cutting back perennials at the end of the season, and sometimes for dead-heading many-flowered things. I love them. they are called Oskatune shears and they are from Niwaki - expensive but I've had rather too many bad pairs in the past for this to bother me in the slightest. I have other Niwaki things, because a good tool is a pleasure to use, always.

x Laetitia

Ten tips for Virgin Gardeners (part 2)

Following on from the last blog, here is the second half of my ten suggestions for newbie gardeners who just want to to get on and grow something:

6 Plant some bulbs

Bulbs are an absolute gift to the new gardener; easy, virtually failsafe and providing the most marvellous of spring surprises. Start now, though, by getting some late summer flowering bulbs, like Crocosmia, or Gladiolus callianthus and sinking them into pots or a flowerbed for a stunning display when everything else in the garden starts to turn brown. The only rule with bulbs is to plant them at about twice their own depth, and to make sure you plant enough. Abundance, always.

7 Grow something delicious 

Edibles, though rather higher maintenance than ornamental plants (and this is only because you have to prevent wildlife from chomping at them) are doubly rewarding as gardening projects, being both beautiful and tasty. Start with something ready-grown at the garden centre. You can buy all manner of baby fruit and vegetable plants, from courgettes and squash (great fun) to individual carrots (ridiculous, but also fun), grown from seed by experts, which you just plonk into a pot or a bed and water. Again, treat these first forays as experiments, rather than an ambitious stab at self-sufficiency - if you get a delicious cherry tomato, or a strawberry at the end, then go you. Harvest, enjoy and repeat until you’re an expert.

8 Sow some pea shoots

This is a fun, easy project for beginners who want to sow and grow something tasty that isn’t cress. Just fill a wide shallow container with multi-purpose compost, water it, and cover the surface with peas (from a seed packet, not a bag of frozen ones). Cover with a bit more compost and watch them erupt out of the soil and turn into delicious, sweet-tasting pea shoots complete with curly bits. Once you’ve got the hang of these, you can move on to sowing mixed salad leaves and hearted lettuces - you’ll never buy bagged salad again.

9 Plant an essential herb container

For many, keeping a little herb garden alive is the best introduction to gardening, especially if you cook regularly. Buy a selection of soft herbs, like parsley, chives and basil from a garden centre (not a supermarket) and plant them in multi-purpose compost, keeping them watered and harvesting the leaves regularly. Don’t get overwhelmed with differing soil or aspect requirements - just plant them, have them nearby so you can inspect regularly, and get to know each one, like a friend, until the end of the season when it’s time to say goodbye. Evergreen herbs, like bay, rosemary, thyme and sage can be planted in more permanent pots because they’ll stick around all year.

10 Tidy

Most gardening isn’t pruning or digging, or sowing or watering - it’s actually tidying. If that makes you flinch then stay awhile, and consider that this is not tidying as you know or understand it; it’s compulsive, meditative, happy tidying. Still not convinced? Try this: Go out into your garden and pick one square metre, absolutely anywhere (although perhaps not in the middle of a lawn). If necessary, mark off this area with a hula-hoop or some canes and a bit of string, and start tidying it. Use a hand fork to remove anything that looks like it’s a weed, and take out any over-large stones, and use some secateurs or scissors to prune off any bits of plant that look dead, or dying or unwell. Do not look up, or outside your marked area. Do not stop until you’ve completed the job. Also, don’t linger - do it fast and loose, and be slap-dash. Don't agonise over decisions - if you make a mistake, and damage something, then that sucks but it’s not the end of the world. The important thing is to get it done. When you’re finished, if you don’t move on to the next patch, I’ll eat my gardening gloves.

xx Laetitia

Ten tips for Virgin Gardeners (part 1)

At this time of year, we are usually full of inspiration and renewed conviction that this is going to be the year when we make our garden gorgeous. But this whole gardening caper isn’t easy is it? Eleventy billion books and the entire internet, full of conflicting advice on how to do the very simplest things, not to mention the fact that unlike our parents, many of us have no childhood experiences of gardening.

Those of us in our 30s and 40s, (many of us with two parents working full-time), are a generation of lost gardeners. I may have known what a foxglove looked like, but I certainly never gleaned any horticultural knowledge from loitering next to my mum or granddad while they did the gardening; yes, it would have been confidence building, but it’s absolutely not essential. In fact, not knowing anything about plants allowed me to plunge straight into the flowerbed, unfettered by the limitations imposed by gardening ‘rules’, which (in my humble opinion) are mostly better broken.

So if you’re inspired to go out and have a go, here are ten things you can do in your outside space which will not only improve its appearance, but teach you something about gardening into the bargain.

1. Clear some space. 

You may have ambitious plans to overhaul your entire outside space, or you may simply have been inspired to plant a shrub here and there. Either way, you’re about to get acquainted with your soil. Pick up a handful and give it a squeeze - you’ll instinctively know if it’s good, and not just because it’s crumbly but sticky at the same time, with a sweetish smell, but because the plants in it are looking healthy (even if they are weeds). Anything too dry, or hard, or sticky or stony, or cloddy needs attention, and again, the answers are obvious - add something moist and rich (manure or soil improver) to very dry or sandy soils, and something dry and gritty (like sand) to very sticky soils. Pull up all the weeds and dig, plunging a spade vertically down into the ground, levering the stuff up and turning it over, breaking it up by bashing it a bit, and then forking in any additions. It’s properly hard work but you’ll burn a vast amount of calories and end up with something fabulous at the end.

2. Plant some ready-grown flowers that you like. 

Now you’re ready to plant, it pays to practice with something dispensable, so go to the garden centre and pick some cheap bedding plants that make you smile. Don't give yourself too long, or overthink this choosing stage. Don’t get bogged down with reading too many labels; these are temporary plants. Take them out of their plastic pots and rub the sides of the compost a bit, so that the roots know it’s okay to start spreading out, rather than growing round and round in a circle. Dig a hole, a bit deeper than you think you need, place the plant in the hole, and replace the soil around it so there aren't any gaps. Firm the whole thing down gently with your hands or a foot, and water liberally. That’s all.

3. Sow some seed

If you’ve never done it before, prepare to be thrilled. Don’t read the label, or the internet, or any books. Just go and get some easy, large seeds (nasturtiums are a good one to start with), fill a container, like a window-box, with multi-purpose compost from a bag, water the compost and push a few seeds into the soil - just a fingernail’s depth. Squidge the soil back over the seed and leave the whole thing somewhere you’ll be able to see it daily, so that you can make sure the soil doesn’t dry out. Unbelievably soon, you’ll see shoots appearing. Keep watering and watching and being amazed. Repeat.

4. Remove something you dislike

Whether it’s a tiny back yard, or a balcony, or a large garden, this is your space. If you’ve inherited plants that don’t make you happy, it might be time to ask yourself what on earth you’re keeping them for. Yanking stuff out that isn’t right is just as fruitful and effective as putting stuff in - it’s all gardening, and you’ll be amazed at what a jolly good purge can create in terms of views and vistas and general feelings of liberation.

5. Prune something that’s overgrown

Following on from pulling out unwanted plants, look at your shrubs and trees and think about improving they way they look and perform in your space by lopping off some of the foliage or branches. Most people in inherited gardens have overgrown shrubs which can be absolutely transformed by a judicious haircut. Start by identifying the plant and establishing the best time to prune, but beyond that, trust yourself and go at it, slowly and gently, stepping back after each cut to look at what you’ve done from a distance. Evergreen shrubs like box, privet, yew can be pruned into all sorts of wonderful shapes. Large shrubs that take up huge amounts of ground can be ‘lifted’ by chopping off all the foliage to leave bare stems, allowing you to underplant the space below with shade-loving plants.

Hope that was helpful. There’ll be five more suggestions coming up next.

x Laetitia

How to deal with box caterpillar

Cydalima perspectalis is the box tree caterpillar and if you don’t already have it, very sorry, but it’s coming soon to a box ball near you.

It lays pale yellow eggs on the underside of the leaves, which hatch green and yellow caterpillars with black heads. These will munch away, leaving only crispy brown skeletons of leaves, and making you both angry and sad.

this is what they do

This caterpillar has no natural predator so it’s not like you can just leave the birds to eat them. In fact birds won’t eat more than a few due to the toxic alkaloids in the box (which is the sole diet of the caterpillar). That means that if we want to keep our box plants, we have to take action and control the pest.

Cydalima perspectalis (box tree caterpillar)

Now of course, there are loads of sprays out there which will nuke the critters, including all other beneficial insects!! That’s not something I want to contribute to, and if you’re looking for chemical insecticide recommendations then this is not the place for you. Before you go though, I would beg you, for the sake of our planet, to take a look at the options below - they are all effective and most importantly, SAFE for other insects and wildlife, pets, your children and YOU!

Firstly, hand-removal. It’s time-consuming and gross, but effective if you do it regularly, remembering that this moth has more than one life cycle every year, and that the caterpillars over-winter on the plant.

A moth trap should be the first port of call for anyone dealing with this pest. It contains a lure which attracts the males and traps them, preventing them from reproducing. You may need more than one trap, depending on how large your garden is, and it’s essential that you follow the instructions, replacing the lure regularly etc, otherwise it simply won’t work (and for something that doesn’t look very nice, that would be a shame!) There is a discount code on the trap I’ve linked above - just put TODMAN10 into the box. If everyone with box had a trap and used it, we would effectively be able to control this pest.

Next is the nematode route, This is effective as long as you follow the instructions religiously. I haven’t used it but it is absolutely safe for use. I use nematodes to deal with vine weevil larvae and they are effective but as I said, do follow the instructions; nematodes are very temperature sensitive and you don’t want to waste your time or money.

Biological control - Topbuxus Xentari contains a microorganism that will kill caterpillars but not bees (indeed bee-keepers use it to control moths within hives). I use it and can vouch for it. The caterpillars stop eating your box within an hour and they die within a couple of days. Be aware that it is not officially sanctioned for use in the UK yet, but also be aware that this is more to do with huge chemical companies and their wish that you should continue to buy their stuff..

If you have a fair amount of box and are using Xentari I highly recommend a Trigger Sprayer - it makes the whole thing much easier and quicker and avoids blisters from repetitive spray injury! If that’s not your thing then of course a normal spray bottle will do; it needs to be at least a litre capacity as each sachet of Xentari needs a litre of water to mix with.

Finally, remember that this pest isn’t going away any time soon, so if you want box the you’ll have to commit to them…big time. Having found a solution that works I’m happy to put the work in, but if you’re not up for this lark, then stay tuned and I’ll put a blog up soon with my favourite box alternatives, all of which respond well to clipping, and none of which will (hopefully) break your heart.

Hope that was helpful. I am not a scientist - just an interested gardener, and sometimes I get things wrong. If you see anything here that you don’t agree with, please do let me know.

x Laetitia

My favourite ferns for containers

Fern favourites

Right about this time, when we’re all about the garden in its party dress, it’s not a bad idea to calm down, and focus instead on ways in which your garden can really sing for its supper over the winter. Green is never not a good choice for a container (or anywhere else) and in fact, if you can bear to step away from the colour, the payback will be sophistication and serenity in spades.

Evergreen ferns are my answer; the opposite of formal or severe, and bringing a jungly vibe to a space reminiscent of warmer climes. Add to this the fact that all of them (evergreen or deciduous) grow best in semi- or full shade, and you have the perfect plant to lush up the darker patches of your plot.

So what are the best ferns for containers? Well, the answer is the fern you love the most, because they grow very well in a pot, as long as you don’t let them dry out. They don’t have a particularly deep root run, so although they look best in large pots, which raise them up a bit, you don’t actually need to fill the whole thing with compost - you can ‘stuff’ the bottom of the pot with an old upturned plastic container, or with other used packing materials, making for an altogether lighter container. Here are my personal favourites - all but one is evergreen.

Asplenium scolopendrium (put it anywhere you have a space)

Asplenium scolopendrium is an absolute wonder for difficult, dark areas (it will grow in cracks in a wall, given enough moisture). Its leaves are un-cut and slightly wavy at their margins and at 18ins or so, it is smallish, so perfect for little crevices.

Polypodium vulgare

Polypodium vulgare has very pretty, almost lacy fronds and grows up to 20ins or so. It’s a British native too.

Polystichum setiferum

Rather more furry-looking but no less beauteous for that are the Polystichums. P. setiferum, with its arching fronds and soft texture will get to 23ins.

Dryopteris felix-mas, (header photo) perhaps my favourite fern for winter, isn’t even properly evergreen (its leaves are mostly gone by the end of December, leaving promising furry brown ‘knuckles’ in the earth, waiting to unfurl), but is gorgeous enough, at a stately 3ft, and with spectacular filigree fronds, to make that loss more than worth it.

Dicksonia antarctica - the ultimate if you can afford to splash out on something really special, and perfectly possible in a container as long as you take care with keeping it healthy. They are not hardy over the winter so need wrapping up (unless your garden is super-sheltered) but just one of these will add lush, jungly gravitas to any terrace or garden. I don’t have a photo of this because I am still saving up for one (or twelve).

x Laetitia 

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Reclaim your garden: zero waste, inexpensive, enjoyable ways to get your garden shipshape this weekend.

Easter Weekend is, statistically speaking, the busiest gardening weekend of the year. It’s a lovely thing yes, but there is always a sense of rising panic...especially for people who are new to gardening…

Help! my garden is a mess! How on earth am I going to tackle this enormous task?…I don’t have time to make it look nice! Perhaps the only way is to call someone in and spend loads of money I don’t have! I don’t even know what any of these plants are!

It’s a feeling I know all too well and I’m going to send out a gentle plea for calm right now, because your outside space, however ‘messy’ or ‘unkempt’ or ‘neglected’ is still YOUR SPACE and you deserve to enjoy it, whatever state it’s in. Indeed, if you ARE facing a jungle outside, you can take comfort in the knowledge that SO many beneficial insects, birds, reptiles and other wildlife are enjoying your garden BECAUSE it’s untidy!

Okay so let’s get practical. I thought I’d set out a small list of things you can do to improve YOUR EXPERIENCE of your garden. This is not about doing a massive makeover…no grand gestures here…it’s about carrying out some very simple tasks that will connect you with your garden on a deeper level, and pave the way for a more sustained (dare I say it, ‘FIVE MINUTE APPROACH’) going forward.

1. Sow some seeds.

I suggest either sweet peas or runner beans. If you’ve no space in a flowerbed then do it in a large pot. Start the seeds off indoors so you can keep a close eye on them, and they germinate quicker. Get yourself a bag of peat-free, multi purpose compost and fill a few deep pots with it. If you don’t have pots lying around, please don’t go buying new ones…, use old loo rolls, or make paper pots out of old newspaper - they’re really easy - I’ve put a highlight on my instagram stories called ‘Newspaper pots’ to show how easy it is. All you need is an old jar and some newspaper. Push one seed into each pot, about up to your first knuckle, cover them over, water well and try and create a humid atmosphere around them - if you have a seed tray, that means using the clear plastic lid that comes with it, or if not, then put them in a clear plastic storage container with the lid on, or you could even use a clear plastic bag. Leave them inside, by a window (your kitchen windowsill is good here) until they appear. As soon as they do, take whatever you’re using as a ‘lid’ off and let them grow on until they have a few leaves. Put them outside in the day and inside at night until you feel the forecast says there won’t be any more frost, and then plant them out in your pot, or the bit of earth you’ve cleared. Stick a few bamboo or hazel sticks in the ground to create a tipi of sorts, tying it up at the top with string, and gently tie your little seedlings to the base of the sticks, so they know where to climb. In a matter of weeks you’ll have a gorgeous green-covered pyramid. This will give you SO much joy as you go out to pick your sweet peas or harvest your runner beans. You don’t even have to LIKE runner beans, because the flowers are just so pretty, and you will have grown something substantial and amazing from SCRATCH.

2. Do some husbandry

Honestly lovely people, if you’re feeling overwhelmed the following things are the quickest, simplest and most enjoyable ways to get that ‘in control’ feeling back. Husbandry is just a term for tidying that gardeners use…I love the word, and I love the act of husbandry. It’s mindless and easy and never fails to do good.

a) Sweep. Sweep that shit up - all the old leaves and dirt. Sweep your steps and your terrace or patio, sweep your paths and your paving stones, take a small stiff brush and sweep all the crevices and crannies your broom can’t reach. Put your headphones on and sweep it all up.

b) Mow. I put this under ‘husbandry’ because, again, it’s really nothing more than mindless ‘tidying’. If you have a lawn, then mowing it is the single most effective thing you can do to make things look good. A mown lawn will let you get away with murder in the flower beds. So mow darlings. And edge too. Get a pair of kitchen scissors and snip all the grass that the mower can’t reach, so that the edges of your lawn are crisp. It will make a vast difference, SWEAR.

c) Chop. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know which plant is which. The rule here is simple. Chop down anything that’s brown and crispy (or dead, in other words). It’s old flowers and stems from last year and it needs to go now, so that the new stuff can emerge, un-impeded. While you’re chopping you might want to look at the base of some of your plants, and you might see the new stuff coming up. Exciting no?. There…you’re gardening!

d) Weed. Do you know what a stinging nettle looks like? or a dandelion? If those are the only weeds you can identify then start with them…yank them out (unless you want them for the wildlife in your garden,….and yes, if you can leave a small wild area then the birds and insects and frogs etc will thank you for it). If you’ve got an idea of which plants go where in your garden, then you’ll know which ones are weeds. Pull them out, or gently dig around their roots to remove them. Once you’ve cleared one patch, move on to the next. Do not look up. Do not get downhearted by how much there is to achieve, just keep your head down and enjoy what you’re doing right now. Do five minutes at a time and you’ll have the whole garden finished in a matter of days.

3. Reset the garden every day

Okay this is going to sound a bit bonkers, but it’s one of the most important things I do every day in the spring, summer and autumn for my garden and MYSELF. I first came across the idea of the #reset from following a woman called Lauren on Instagram (whose recipes for homemade cleaning products I also follow). She has this thing about ‘resetting’ her space every day, so that it feels good the next time she walks into it. I haven’t managed to implement this type of thing into my inside space, but I DO use it for outside:

So: Put your cushions and throws and parasols and other comfy stuff out first thing, every morning, whether or not you are planning to sit in the garden. This is SO important; if there’s nowhere comfortable to sit in your garden, you won’t sit in it…simples. Unless torrential rain is forecast, I put the cushions out, and you know what…I find myself actually sitting down to enjoy the garden in those small snippets of time I get, randomly. If the cushions weren’t there, I wouldn’t be able to do that. The garden is there to be enjoyed, and having a comfortable place to sit is crucial if it is to fulfil its destiny!

Hope that provides some ideas for this weekend and beyond

x Laetitia

I write a weekly newsletter. It’s much more personal than my blog and covers my daily five minute forays. People say it gives them ideas about what they can do right now in their garden. We do lots of emailing back and forth and it’s my favourite way to connect with people who read my stuff. Sign up if you want to try it and don’t worry - you can always unsubscribe if it’s not for you!

How I plan to grow enough salad for the family this year.

Free greens from now until winter and beyond: A timetable of sorts.

I'm a world away from being self sufficient, but I am constantly looking for ways to cut my food budget and increase the nutrient density of our meals. Obviously, like any sane person on this precious planet, I also want to cut out plastic, and I've managed to do this pretty effectively when it comes to grains, meat and fish, by switching over to a bulk store, butcher and fishmonger respectively. This means that a lot of the plastic I'm still getting comes from the bagged salad I'm receiving in my veg box and buying from the supermarket. I thought I would share the plan I'm plotting, to keep my family in greens for the majority of the year, starting right now. Here it is:

Immediately: 
Peashoots in a pot: I will be sowing a wide, shallow pot of peas every two weeks indoors, and will keep this going indefinitely, moving the pots outside when the weather is warm enough. These shoots are delicious and even children love them. You can get more detailed instructions on how to sow them in the link above.

Microgreens in a pot: Pretty much the same deal as for pea shoots, I'll be doing a fortnightly sowing of micro greens in two wide, shallow pots or plastic seed trays. Again, click the link in the title for more detailed instructions on how to sow micro greens.

Hearted lettuce: On the advice of Alex Mitchell, I'm going to have my first stab at hearted lettuce with 'Webb's Wonderful' which I'll be sowing individually in jiffy 7's, perhaps in a group of four, and pot on into a 20-30cm pot. They are supposed to heart up and be ready in eight weeks, and each one will yield an entire family salad. We eat two to three family salads a week (well, yes, I eat most of it, so yeah, they're not really 'family salads are they' but still, I reckon I'll want two crunchy lettuces a week to feed my salad addiction). That means sowing four or five seeds every fortnight to keep things ticking over. I've already begun this escapade indoors and then take it outside in May when I know there won't be any more frosts.

April and beyond:
Cut and come again leaves: I'll be sowing a very large wide container on my terrace with Johnson's Ovation mixed leaves, recommended to me by Alex Mitchell. These I'll be thinning to 5cm apart and then picking off single leaves as and when I want salad, and I'll be sowing a new pot's worth every fortnight all the way through to early autumn.

I'm hoping that with these four seed packets I'll be able to stop using bagged salad entirely. I'll be keeping a tally of the cost of seed, compost and time spent also, because it interests me, and might also interest you too. I'll also try and chronicle in all on Instagram stories (because if it's not storied then it hasn't happened right?) and if you have any suggestions for me on this particular thing, then do get in touch - I'd love to know your thoughts.

x Laetitia

How to make a simple alpine trough

An alpine trough is the kindest, nicest thing you can give to yourself (or anyone else) for a present. It’s a simple way of having fun with plants and it’s low maintenance, and fits on a tabletop - no garden required.

I made this trough up this time last year and it has brought me SO much joy.

You need:
A wide shallow container, or a proper alpine trough like this tiny stone one
Some broken pieces of terracotta or pebbles or old polystyrene blocks for drainage
Some broken pieces of terracotta or slate, or some shard-like stones. Think SCREE.
Some peat-free multi-purpose compost
Some horticultural grit
Some alpine plants. Mine were: Armeria, Sedum, Veronica and Erysimum. Bought at the garden centre and wrestled from their plastic which I left ceremoniously at the counter.
Some sempervivums (house-leeks) to fill in any gaps

Method.
Mix the compost about two thirds compost and one third grit.

Keep thinking about your mountainside and how craggy and free-draining it is. Add your drainage to the bottom of your container

Fill the container with the gritty compost and push in some craggy bits of terracotta or slate - get them facing the same way. Use this for inspiration!

Now squish in your plants randomly, hugging your shards of pottery slightly, and spilling over the sides a bit.

Now add some sempervivums. If you’re buying them new, then make sure there’s a hen and some chicks (little baby sempervivums attached to their mother) You can detach these and plant them separately - burying the ‘umbilical cord’ gently in the compost and leaving the rosettes proud of the soil. Space them evenly around, so they can creep slowly and fill in the gaps.

Water the pot and finally top-dress it with small horticultural grit or gravel. This will keep the crown of each plant dry and prevent it rotting.

If needs be, gently pull the plant upwards so that the gravel gets right in around each rosette and crown.

Hope you have fun making this - do tag me in any photos on your socials so I can share your beautiful work!

x Laetitia

How to care for alpine containers

Exquisite, jewel-like qualities aside, the main attraction of alpines for me, is that they are fabulously low-maintenance. Low maintenance though, is not NO maintenance, because most of us grow our alpines in smallish containers, where there is less room for slovenliness than in the wider garden environment, so here is my three-step alpine rescue mission for neglected pots.

First, weeding; deathly boring I know, but it’s amazing what a bit of husbandry can do for a collection of low-growing lovelies. Obviously chop off any dead or dying bits of plant, and get rid of any uninvited guests. For sempervivums you may need to remove some healthy bits along with the brown stuff, as the babies are attached to the parent plant. Just cut the ‘stalk’ attaching the baby to its parent and bury it in the compost, giving it its own space.

Your next step is to top-dress - another intensely satisfying thing as it gives the ‘painting’ of your planting a new, clean canvas against which it can shine, with the added benefit that a mulch of horticultural grit or pea gravel will prevent the base of each plant from becoming too wet, and consequently rotting.

And if things could still do with a little zhuzhing up, then consider the artful application of a few bits of slate, pushed into un-planted gaps, at an angle, to crank up the whole alpine scree vibe, whilst adding a vertical element to your container.

Sempervivum

x Laetitia

Thinning out: The hows and whys of murdering your plants

It’s a sad fact that thinning is essential in order to give plants the space they need to grow. The trick is to sow enough seeds as an insurance against non-germination or death-by-slug, or bird, or cat. You need to begin the whole process of sowing, KNOWING that many of your babies won’t reach their full potential. This may make it easier to cull….sort of…but not much. There is nothing worse than removing perfectly healthy plants. The problem is that if you don’t, then none of them will thrive. Simples.

Different plants need different treatment when it comes to thinning them out, but the essential thing with all of them is to sow thinly in the first place, preferably singly, or in pairs, into modules, or individual Jiffy 7 pellets, so that you can easily pot the small plants on with minimal root disturbance.

Sowing in pairs is a good option as it will give you an insurance policy. When both seedlings come up, wait until they are a few cm high and snip the smaller one off at soil level with scissors. It’s important not to pull it out, as this could disturb the roots of the plant you want to keep.

If your seeds are too small to sow singly, then this option still holds good – sow as thinly as possible and snip all but one or two seedlings away in each module. Two seedlings, in either corner of a small module can then grow on for a while and eventually one can be pricked out and transplanted, avoiding wastage.

In the ground, sow thinly as before and when the seedlings are an 2-3cm tall, do an initial thinning by leaving one good seedling every 10cm and pulling everything out in between. Watering before you remove seedlings will avoid root damage to neighbours, and watering post-thinning is essential too, to settle the compost around the roots.

A second thinning (to whatever the packet instructs) can then ensue, when you feel the plants are strong enough to withstand transplanting and the removed plants can be re-planted elsewhere, which may make the whole thing a little less gut-wrenching (though not much, I admit).

Damping off - what is it, and how can you avoid it?

We’ve all been there; hope and optimism-filled as we sow seeds, only to be crushed a few days or weeks later as our they either fail to emerge, or (even worse) sprout beautifully and then suddenly collapse for no apparent reason.

The culprits are both fungal and soil-borne diseases, and there are many of them – hence the collective term. The good news is that there is a lot you can do to prevent damping off.

Improving the air-flow to your seedlings is absolutely critical; remove any covering over your seeds as soon as you see action (individual pots which can be moved as soon as the seedling appears are preferable to trays). If trays are used, don’t wait until all the seeds have germinated; get that lid off at the two-thirds mark.

Make sure that your seed mix is sterile, and well-drained. Get some fine horticultural grit and mix it 50/50 with your seed compost – this will keep air-flow and drainage at good levels.

Ensure that you water really well, but do it from below, standing your pots or trays in water until the compost has absorbed the moisture it needs, and then pouring away any excess.

Make sure that your containers and any tools you use are as sterile as possible. You can do this by washing thoroughly with hot soapy water, or if you want to be totally sure, then you could even zap your pots in a steam steriliser - a bit over-the-top perhaps, but if you’re going to the effort of growing from seed, then it might just be worth the bother.

xx Laetitia

Lilies for Mothering Sunday

Cut flowers are lovely, and I’ll never say not to them (as long as they’re plastic-free and British-grown) but a single pot planted with lilies would also gladden any mother’s heart.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Edit: Do be careful with lilies if you have cats or neighbours with cats, as the pollen is poisonous to them. Many thanks to Fran for pointing this out in the comments - I should have mentioned it in the original post.

It’s as simple as getting hold of some lily bulbs and putting them in a pot. Here’s how:

You need:

Lily bulbs: I have new favourites every year, but the milky-white, heavily scented Lilium ‘Casa Blanca’ always steals my heart.

Compost: I use a mixture of peat-free multi-purpose and John Innes No. 2.

A tall pot: My lily posts measure roughly 30cm across and are 50cm deep. This size will be perfect for tall lilies.

Sharp sand

Osmacote granules: to feed the bulb - about one handful per pot.

Method

Mix up the compost with the granules and fill the pot until you have about 15cm left to the rim. Now sprinkle in a handful of sharp sand, put the bulbs on top (I use three bulbs per pot) and bury them with more compost, leaving enough room at the tip so that when you water it won’t overflow. Water until it seeps out of the bottom of the pot, put it outside in a sunny spot and wait.

If you’ve chosen tall lilies it’s a good idea to put a pea stick next to each one to support it as it gets taller.

You should have lilies by June.

Lilies hate to be too wet, so wait until the compost is dry on top before each watering and then water thoroughly. They also sometimes get attacked by bright red lily beetles, which have brown larvae covered in their own odious poo - so revolting. Squish them on sight.

x Laetitia

Frog love: how to create the best environment for these garden friends.

Photo by Bharathi Raja on Unsplash

You want frogs in your garden; you really really do.

They eat insects (including mosquitos) and also slimy invertebrates (yes, slugs) and they are also unbelievably cute.

Water

The single most important feature you need is water – a pond is obviously best, but failing that, a large container filled with water and more importantly, a way in and out of it. For a container or pool, this will mean bricks fashioned in some sort of ‘step’ arrangement; for a pond, the marginal (shallower) area on the sides will do the trick.

Plants

They need pond plants to hide in-amongst, and to attract insects. Frogs actually spend most of their time on land, so adequate foliage, providing moist, shady coverage near to your pond or pool is vital.

Patience and consideration

Wait for the frogs to find you, rather than raiding another pond for frogspawn, and be careful with any chemicals you are still using and consider cutting them out – for the benefit of all nature, but particularly for frogs who drink and breathe through their skin. Avoid topping pools up with tap water, because the chlorine in it can harm frogspawn – it’s best to use a water butt, and if you must use tap water, then leave it out for a day or two to evaporate the chlorine. If you live in an area where your tap water is chloraminated, then always use rainwater.

Slowly does it!

Most importantly though (and sorry to make you wince), keep your lawn short, and check it thoroughly before you mow it.

x Laetitia

Best zero waste pots and containers for sowing seeds

Following on from the last blog, in which I set out my favourite composts for seed sowing, I thought it might be helpful to do the same with seeds sowing containers. Again, there is a wealth of information out there on which containers are the best ones for your little seed babies, but here, for what it’s worth, are the solutions that have worked best for me.

Before we begin: Anything you use to start off seeds should be scrupulously clean, to prevent mould or other nasties from coming into contact with your seedlings. Remember that a warm, humid environment is needed to aid germination, which is also the PERFECT environment for the proliferation of microbes, good and bad. So wash anything you’re sowing into, with hot soapy water (I use Dr Bronners Sal Suds, or just plain washing up liquid will do) and dry the container thoroughly too.

My favourite containers for sowing seed.

1. Existing plastic pots and trays. You have more of these hanging around in your garden than you could ever imagine! Use them until they disintegrate, (it’s still pretty impossible to recycle them effectively). Plastic really is a great material for seed sowing containers. If you are sowing lots of seed, then seed trays are the best solution. Bear in mind that you will eventually have to pot on all those seedlings though, so make sure you have enough pots for that! I tend to use small plastic pots and sow small amounts of seed into them.

2. Recycled food cartons. If you run out of plastic pots, or if you are new to gardening, old plastic food cartons can serve extremely well as seed-starting containers. Ice cream tubs make very good seed trays (just punch some holes in the bottom) and grape cartons, complete with holes, also work well, particularly for seeds that like a deep root run (such as sweet peas).

3. Coir jiffy 7 pellets. I wrote about these in the blog before this one. They are self-contained pellets made out of coconut fibre, set within a compostable membrane. You simply put them in water to inflate them and sow directly into each one. They do need some sort of a tray with sides to help them stay upright, and they are more expensive than using existing containers with bought compost, but they make potting on incredibly easy - just remove the membrane and put the entire lump of coir into the next pot. It’s a zero waste, zero mess option.

4. Newspaper pots. Disclaimer: I’ve never used paper pots, but I have excellent gardening friends who do, and they swear by them. Most of us have old newspaper in the home, and you can make yours as large or small as you like. It’s zero waste and incredibly satisfactory. The paper is easily removed once you’re ready to pot on, and then obviously it’s compostable. I have my eye on this seedling starter set, which includes a dibber and a tamper, along with two sizes of pot maker, but if you don’t want to shell out for it then this video is brilliant - a bit origami but I love the fact that they are square.

5. Loo rolls. You can use loo rolls in the same way as newspaper pots but without the bother of having to make them up. The trick with these is to collect enough that they all stand up next to one another on a tray. They are particularly good for sweet peas, again because of their depth, and of course you can compost them once you’ve used them.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for your seed sowing - you certainly don’t have to go out and buy new kit to start sowing - all you need is some sort of pot and a warm place in which to germinate seed!

x Laetitia

Best composts for seed sowing

It’s that time of year - everyone is dabbling in a little (or a lot of) seed sowing so I thought I’d put in my two cents worth on sowing media.

There seems to be so much mystery surrounding this, and I certainly remember as a novice, wading through acres of information on what type of mix was the best medium for sowing seeds. I remember looking at lots of trials, comparing different types of proprietary seed compost, but in the end, I used whatever was available to me at my local garden centre - I wasn’t about to travel to go and get a particular seed sowing mix. Equally I wasn’t mad keen on mixing any more than a couple of different ‘ingredients’ in order to get the perfect mix. So, here is what has worked for me over the years, and I hope it goes some way to de-mystifying the subject.

One more time: The following suggestions are just what have worked for me in the time I have been sowing seeds - this is in no way an exhaustive list.

Before we start - some seed sowing essentials..

Seeds need a free-draining, nutrient-poor, humid environment to germinate. The texture of any compost or medium needs to be fine - no big lumps but not too fine so as to prevent oxygen from getting in. It’s a balance. For any seed sowing, your best friend will always be horticultural grit or perlite, both to cover seeds with and to mix with your compost. I like perlite because it’s light, but grit is great too.

1. Peat free multi-purpose compost

   This is a perfectly good option for sowing seeds, and some people use it neat with great results. There are loads to choose from, but I always cut it half and half with horticultural grit or perlite, in order to lighten the mix. I also sieve out any lumps and ‘bits’. Imagine you are a tiny seed trying to put down a root; you don’t want to be wending your way around big bits of bark in order to anchor yourself, and access air, water and nutrients. In order to give your seeds the best start, make it easy for them by giving them fine, crumbly, gritty compost.

2. Coir jiffy 7 pellets

   I have just started using these and I LOVE them. They are basically little pod of coir (coconut fibre) wrapped in a compostable membrane. You pop them in water for a few moments and they expand into perfect little cells which you then sow into direct. They are so easy to use and so far I’ve had 100% germination from them for my tomatoes, peppers and parsley. They need some kind of ‘tray’ so they don’t fall over, and you need to keep a keen eye on them to make sure the coir doesn’t dry out, but this is far and away the most convenient seed sowing method I’ve come across, principally because it is VIRTUALLY MESS-FREE. Yes, you can do this in your kitchen (and let’s face it, most of us are sowing seed in our kitchens) without lugging about loads of dirt…you don’t even get your hands dirty. One word of warning though, make sure the pellets you buy are coir, as there is a big market in jiffy 7’s made out of peat. Using peat in your garden is unsustainable and plain wrong, so go for the coir ones.

3. Vermiculite

   I would never have used vermiculite to start seeds, except out of convenience. I wanted to sow something and had run out of compost or grit or something. I noticed an old bag of vermiculite and used that instead. The seeds really really loved it. This is a really great seed sowing medium. It is free draining whilst at the same time holding just enough moisture to provide your seeds with a near-perfect environment. It’s expensive though, and quite distinctive-looking, so it’s not something I would use a lot of, as I always tip my used seed compost over my garden. Recommended for sowing on a very small scale though.

4. Proprietary seed and cuttings compost.

   These are bags of compost sold specifically for seed sowing and taking cuttings. They usually have a higher drainage level (although never quite high enough I find) and are slightly finer. Personally, to all these mixes, I would add more grit or perlite, but generally it’s cheaper and easier just to use a peat-free multi-purpose mix as above. Having said this, I have heard rather marvellous things about Dalefoot wool seed compost, so I will be giving that a try soon. Be careful when buying John Innes seed compost - it often contains peat; always read the ingredients.

xx Laetitia

I write a newsletter each week - it’s a bit personal and chronicles my five minute gardening exploits.