This summer the large border we created was filled with summer bedding plants. These have all gone over leaving the border looking empty and sad, we needed something quick and easy for the winter months.
Then an e mail popped through from Thompson and Morgan who had a flash sale of winter bedding plants, even better they were garden ready. Pansy and Dianthus barbatus (sweet Williams) in a range of colours, we would receive 60 garden ready plants 30 of each for £10. We spent £30 and got a lot of garden ready plants that should grow over the winter and give us some early colour.
A couple of weeks later they arrived and when unpacked looked like this and then all you have to do is plant them out.
Here are a couple of tips from the lessons I lernt.
Remove the plants first and not as you go along. I was taking one out and then planting. This was a bad idea as it took forever.
When removing be careful, either do this with no gloves or very thin ones, the plants can easily break. I found that slightly squeezing the indvidual plant section and pushing up helped. Even with being careful I did break a couple.
Take them out and postion where you are going to plant. Stand back and move around. I planted in groups of three which worked well.
When your happy, grab your trowel and start planting. They only need small holes dug so is pretty quick with the preperation work done.
I would defiantly get something to kneel on for this job (it is on my Christmas list). This time of year the soil is wet and cold, I ended up feeling very cold.
I did not have to water the plants in and they are doing really well. The ground was very wet, we had rain that night and later the next day. If your soil is not that wet I would suggest watering.
When your finished make yourself a large cuppa and sit down for half an hour to recover.
This is the first time I have brought garden ready plants and so far so good. They were smaller than the ones I buy at the garden center but seem strong and ready for action. I will follow up with progress. But this seems a great idea for a busy family who want the flowers but lack the time to grow them from scratch.
Then an e mail popped through from Thompson and Morgan who had a flash sale of winter bedding plants, even better they were garden ready. Pansy and Dianthus barbatus (sweet Williams) in a range of colours, we would receive 60 garden ready plants 30 of each for £10. We spent £30 and got a lot of garden ready plants that should grow over the winter and give us some early colour.
A couple of weeks later they arrived and when unpacked looked like this and then all you have to do is plant them out.
Here are a couple of tips from the lessons I lernt.
Remove the plants first and not as you go along. I was taking one out and then planting. This was a bad idea as it took forever.
When removing be careful, either do this with no gloves or very thin ones, the plants can easily break. I found that slightly squeezing the indvidual plant section and pushing up helped. Even with being careful I did break a couple.
Take them out and postion where you are going to plant. Stand back and move around. I planted in groups of three which worked well.
When your happy, grab your trowel and start planting. They only need small holes dug so is pretty quick with the preperation work done.
I would defiantly get something to kneel on for this job (it is on my Christmas list). This time of year the soil is wet and cold, I ended up feeling very cold.
I did not have to water the plants in and they are doing really well. The ground was very wet, we had rain that night and later the next day. If your soil is not that wet I would suggest watering.
When your finished make yourself a large cuppa and sit down for half an hour to recover.
This is the first time I have brought garden ready plants and so far so good. They were smaller than the ones I buy at the garden center but seem strong and ready for action. I will follow up with progress. But this seems a great idea for a busy family who want the flowers but lack the time to grow them from scratch.
Brilliant tips X #blogstravagaza
ReplyDeletethank you, i always hope everyone can lean from my many mistakes
DeleteOoh this has inspired me to get Gardening with the kids! Thanks #blogstravaganza
ReplyDeleteits very easy to do but maybe better to pop down and get some in flower now from the garden center, my boys all love doing that x
DeleteSorting out our large borders is high on my list of things to do this year. Great idea to have winter border plants to keep a variety of colour all year round! #Blogstravaganza
ReplyDeleteOur garden is already looking a little better, thanks to inspiration from you! I love these posts! Thanks so much for sharing with #Blogstravaganza xx
ReplyDelete