Last week I wrote about our vegetable seedlings range so this week I thought I’d better mention our summer bedding starter plants range we have in now for those of you who love bright and beautiful flowers.

This range is perfect for you if you find that growing from seed is a faff or some varieties a bit tricky but still want an economic way to start preparing for the summer garden. Like the vegetables they come ready started in little plugs or slightly larger netted pots. You’ll need a light and warm area - a conservatory or green-house is perfect - and some compost and pots or large cell trays suitable for pricking out small plants into ready to grow on.

There’s something really satisfying about growing plants and bedding all the more so as by summer you can have a garden filled with colour for just a few pounds and a bit of care. Bedding plants are really versatile. They grow well in tubs and baskets and are also perfect for filling gaps in your borders. The range of colour allows you to create some really eye catching displays with which to ‘paint’ your garden differently each year if you wish.

With spring just around the corner and the first few days of proper sunny weather I’m thinking about which vegetables I can start sowing. Because we have a flat and no greenhouse I don’t really have room to start plants off inside so I’ll need to start with some I can direct sow and buy little ready started seedlings in a few weeks time when they come into the centres. This weekend I’ll be turning over the bed that I left plant free over the winter ready for some tough little spinach seeds that can be direct sown now. I’ll then clear out the last leeks and chard from the other bed and manure it ready for some beans and salad vegetables later on in the year once the weathers warmed up.

If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse seed sowing should now be well under way for hardier vegetables such as broad beans, broccoli, cabbages, leeks and peas. Tomatoes and peppers can also be started off now as they need a longer time to grow before they produce anything. If you have any disasters with your home-grown seedlings don’t worry. We’ll have a wide range of ready grown veg seedlings in stock from the end of this month for most of the planting season.

Despite the chill in the air things are definitely starting to happen out there. I had a quick scout around my garden on Saturday before the rain started up again and all that manure I mulched it with has almost disappeared into the soil already.

Over the next few weeks I’ll aim to get another load down. Our soil is so sandy and poor its going to need a lot over the next few years to get it conditioned. The constant rain this year will have washed many nutrients out too so in early April I’m going to put down some growmore to give the plants that extra boost.

You can really improve the vigour and health of your plants by using a good feeding regime. I use a general feed early in the year such as growmore, chicken pellets or fish, blood and bone in all of my borders. These are easy to apply by scattering at the rates on the packet then gently raking in. I like to give my flowering and fruiting plants a boost with a high potash feed which encourages flower and fruit formation. My vegetable beds get an organic but high nitrogen feed every month in the growing season to promote leafy growth and my pots get a liquid feed every couple of weeks.

So as soon as the weather allows I’ll be out there giving my plants a good start.

Last week I took the week off and as well as seeing friends and family I spent some time visiting a few gardens to get some inspiration and enjoy the relatively clear weather. Its snowdrop time and in many of the large gardens open to the public there are carpets of these pretty little bulbs flowering their socks off. They look gorgeous planted under deciduous trees and shrubs to add some much needed interest at the very end of winter when there’s not much else happening which I think makes them rather special.

I like to plant them with Hellebores which are an evergreen perennial that also flower at this time of year. They have beautiful peony shaped flowers in white and many shades of pink and yellow. My favourites are the dark plum, almost slate coloured, frilly doubles that contrast well with the snowdrops. Of course we have both of these plants in stock at present so if your borders are a little boring at the moment pop in and see us!