I’m a gardening professional – what should I sow now to be the first to bloom in spring?
A gardening expert has revealed exactly what you need to plant to be the first house on your street to bloom next spring.
Louise’s garden is full of beautiful flowers and lots of fruit and vegetables. She has created a self-sufficient garden and now shares her tips.
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She revealed on TikTok: “The advantage of planting now is that they have all winter to take root and grow big enough so that you can plant them out again in the spring when the weather is warm enough.
“That means you’ll be one of the first to get flowers. If you waited until spring, that’s still fine, but you’ll get your flowers later.
“I made this mistake last year. I was really jealous of everyone showing off all their beautiful flowers, which they had grown over the winter and which were the first flowers of the season to appear.
“I just sat there with the little seedlings I had just planted.”
Violets
She described pansies as the best ‘filler’ plant in the garden because they come in a variety of colours and have large flowers.
The first step was to sow the seeds in several trays of compost and then label them.
Then you add them to a propagator and put the lid on.
The gardener adds: “Once the seedlings appear, you can transplant them very carefully.
“Then you plant each of those pricked out seedlings into modular trays like this one. They’re so hardy that I can leave them outside all winter and they don’t have to take up any space in my greenhouse.”
In addition, violets are edible and therefore ideal for adding to food as decoration.
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Wild carrot
These wildflowers are very easy to grow and actually belong to the carrot family.
You’ll want to use the same technique as you do with pansies: start the plants in multi-plant seed trays until seedlings emerge, then move them to modular seed trays to continue growing.
These are often used as a filler for bouquets and are therefore ideal if you like to make them yourself.
If you don’t have a propagator, you can use cling film instead, which acts as a kind of greenhouse, Louise explains.
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Garden tips and tricks
Orlayas
These white flowers are very easy to grow and are still blooming in the gardener’s garden.
Use the same technique to grow these flowers. They can also be used for bouquets and to add some beautiful flowers to your garden.
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Foxglove
These beautiful bell-shaped flowers provide much needed colour in early spring and will make your garden stand out.
Again, use a seed tray with multiple seedlings and a propagator before transplanting to a module tray.
Louise adds: “Foxglove is a must-have in a cottage garden and also looks beautiful in a bouquet.”
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Swiss chard
“You’re probably thinking, that’s a vegetable, not a flower,” Louise admitted.
“At the Chelsea Flower Show I saw so many exhibitors growing this plant as an ornamental.
“It grows all winter long and gives you that extra bit of colour you won’t find anywhere else.”
Use the same technique to grow it and once you’re done looking at the beautiful greenery, add it to your next roast dinner.
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