How to get ahead for summer from your windowsill

In the Garden

Towards the end of February is when we tend to think winter will never end. The odd glimpse of blue sky tempting us out of our shells only to be further disillusioned by the swamp that was once the lawn. Forcing a retreat to drown our sorrows in the bottom of a mug bought for Christmas with the ironic title of ‘head gardener’ emblazoned across it.

There is hope however, and this lies in the thoughts of summer and sowing seeds.

Nothing looks prettier than groups of petunias hanging from baskets in summer. ‘Snowdrift’ and ‘White Cascade’ are reliable old stagers. This dovetails conveniently with most gardeners penchant for a saving a few pounds (some would even say pennies). T

here is no real need to be buying mature annuals to put in window boxes and hanging baskets when you can easily sow them indoors right now. After all that’s what the plant nurseries are doing.

Petunias, geraniums, begonias and antirrhinums can be grown on a windowsill for very little investment apart from trays, potting compost and of course seeds. Geranium and petunia seeds are minute, barely needing a covering of soil before being kept damp. A garden sprayer is handy as it keeps disturbance to a minimum and mimics natural rain. Once they’ve developed around four or five leaves then transfer them into pots or trays with potting compost that holds more nutrients.

They will keep going until early spring when they need more space. It might not be warm enough for them outside so you have plenty of time to organise a cold frame or borrow greenhouse space until they can go into baskets and window boxes. It’s so much more satisfying knowing you’ve grown plants from seed. Not only that but I find they are more ready for independence and flower for longer having not been reared in laboratory conditions. I often think that plants reared with a bit of hardship develop resilience.

On the Plot

Compost is the big talking point this week. We are using more and more of it as ‘grow your own’ becomes the antidote to modern life. People are using home made compost as their potting compost rather than the commercial product. It has too much in the way of nutrients to be seed compost.

Admittedly the rough product in the compost bins or system you use does require some processing. This is usually sieving it so it resembles what we see sold in garden centres. After that you can add whatever you like. Blood and bone, clean ash from a fire and of course, leaf mould. Sometimes leaf mould can be found on a shed roof under a tree if you have n’t got any in storage.

The beauty of your own ‘black gold’ is that you know exactly what it contains and that you can rely on it for healthy and consistent growth. It doesn’t take much for the quality of shop bought compost to be less effective. Covid was a great example of this as demand rocketed then the quality went the opposite way. Even if you only buy a couple of bags a year then it’s more important to make your own. Larger gardens devote valuable space and effort into this activity which tells you something.

Layering green and brown material with a base of twigs and sticks works well and then turn it over every six weeks or so making sure what goes in is shredded or cut up as small as is reasonable. This way it decomposes quicker.

It can have weed seeds in it, but I’ve found this doesn’t matter as much in no-dig while pots just need a layer of anodyne seed compost to counter this.

There is no plastic, air miles or removal of peat layers from Irish bogs so its a non argument about recycling vegetable and garden waste.

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