Gardening with John Ladlow - professional gardener and Estate Manager for over 50 years In The Garden


Primrose


MARCH is a time for getting started in the garden, looking ahead to what we hope to see and achieve. If you have a greenhouse now is the time to sow annuals or buy plug plants which is a great way to start off growing bedding plants, including geraniums and fuchsias for containers, and hanging baskets. Plug plants have become very popular these last few years, they are reliable, and sometimes even less expensive than seeds especially if you have to take in the cost of heating a propagator. However, there is something special about sowing seeds and watching the early development of the seeds, the way the first leaves unfurl. When we were children we were encouraged to put a broadbean seed in the side of a jam jar with some damp blotting paper, and then watch the root (radicle) and shoot (hypocotyl) emerge. It became a joke in our house to describe a late riser by looking at the clock, saying to them, “emergence of the hypocotyl”.


If you do not have a greenhouse or propagator, clear polythene bags over small seed trays put on window ledges can suffice, especially if the room is warm. I can remember when I used to teach adult garden classes about putting seedlings in a warm place, and a chap telling us that his seedlings had become white and straggly, he said that he had put his seed trays in a warm 8


place...the airing cupboard! Of course seedlings must have light to develop. Light is very important for plant development. That is the reason why plant nurseries are situated where we get lots of natural light, such as the Fylde coast in Lancashire and the South coast in Sussex. Increasing day length in the spring is why everything starts to grow. If you grow from seed then


of course you can have much more choice as just about anything in the world is available to purchase, and grow from seed, it is fun to try and grow something that you are not familiar with, and if successful be the envy of your friends. Light is also the important factor of anyone taking photographs, I am always looking out for shots to take in good natural light as in


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