Sowing biennials and looking to the future.
June is the time when spring flowers start to fade and the warmer, more vibrant shades of summer are just weeks away. But to ensure you have flowers nearly all year round, you must plan your garden (or farm!) a year in advance.
It seems as though biennials are somewhat of a mystery to most people. Their life cycle is different to the usual annual’s and perennials that are so common in our gardens and so the poor old biennial often gets overlooked! They are, however, essential for late spring colour and to fill the gap in between your spring and summer flowering plants.
So what is a biennial plant?
Biennials are those flowers that need to grow and develop good roots in their first year, and then flower in their second year. After the flowers fade they set seed and begin their life cycle all over again. The tall spires of Digitalis (foxgloves), the sweetly scented flowers of Hesperis (sweet rocket), and the papery, translucent seed heads of Lunaria (honesty) are all biennials that make wonderful garden additions, and they’re great for floristry too!
How and when to sow biennials.
This is where you need a little organisation and some forward thinking! It seems counter-intuitive to sow seeds for next year when this years summer isn’t even upon us yet, but biennials need a long time to get to the stage of growth that will allow them to make it through the winter. Sowing your seeds in the first 2 weeks of June (don’t worry if you’re a bit late, just be quick!) will give them enough time to grow strong root systems. making sturdy little plants that are ready to burst into life next spring. Start them off inside in shallow trays filled with compost, where a little warmth will help them get going a bit quicker. If you’re anything like me then you’ll be impatient to see those first signs of life!
I’m trying a new method of seed sowing this time and have sprinkled my Lunaria seeds into a takeaway tub (with a lid) that’s lined with a damp paper towel. I’m hoping they will germinate in the warm, humid environment and when their first little sprouts emerge I’ll be able to see exactly which seeds are viable. They’ll be swiftly potted up into soil blocks or trays and left to get on with it until they’re big enough to go outside. You can skip this pre-germination step if you like, I’m trying it because we need so many plants for our flower farm, and we have limited space, so I want to make sure each tray is full of seeds that will grow rather than having bare patches where seeds haven’t germinated.
Growing and nurturing your seedlings through their first weeks.
Sow straight from the packet, or plant your pre-germinated seeds into shallow trays filled with compost. Remember to check the instruction to see if they need to be buried or not! Keep your precious little seedlings warm and moist and they’ll soon spring to life. I like to cover with a propagator lid, or put the tray inside a sandwich bag until they have their first set of leaves. Keep them in a place that gets lots of sunlight, spritz them with water when the compost looks dry and in about 3 weeks, pot them up into individual 9cm pots or 15 cell trays. This is when I like to start hardening them off, ready to spend the rest of their lives outside. Take the trays outside during the day and bring them in at night for 7 days, then you can leave them outside until it’s time to plant in the ground. (This step is a bit tedious, but necessary if you don’t want to kill your seedlings!)
A seedling ready to be potted up into a 9 cm pot.
(Probably a bit too ready!)
Planting out in the garden.
September is a good time to plant biennials in your garden. The soil is still warm from the summer sun, and they will have time to settle in before the weather takes a chilly turn. Dig a hole a bit wider than the pot, put your plant in and fill the rest of the hole with soil. Make sure to keep the soil level with the base of the stem and give it a good drink to settle the soil around the roots.
They’re hardy plants so should survive the miserable Sheffield winter weather without much fuss, and come April you’ll begin to see the fruits of your labour. The warmer spring weather will encourage them to grow quickly and by late April/mid May you’ll have a mass of gorgeous flowers in your garden!
I have to admit that I didn’t plant any biennials last year, and I’m paying the price for it now! Our beds weren’t ready until the end of July 2019 and I hadn’t really grasped how important biennials are in the flower farming world (Oops!), so come spring of 2020 I’ve found myself with a big gap between the tulips and the summer blooming plants like zinnias. I’m glad I’ve learnt my lesson though, because it means I’m able to plan much better for next year. This new-found knowledge combined with having a much bigger space to grow in means we should be able to provide you with flowers much earlier next year!
Sowing these seeds today, and putting my faith in something so tiny and unassuming is helping me to look to the future, rather than dwelling on my failures. I’m imagining a field full of abundance, that’s buzzing with life, colour and scent! Who would have thought that such a tiny little action could inspire confidence and optimism? I think that’s one of the quiet joys of growing from seed; it helps to focus your mind on the bright dancing heads of the flowers that are yet to come, rather than the mistakes that have gone before.
If you’ve found this useful, or have been inspired to sow your own little nod to the future, I’d love to hear about it! Come over to our Facebook page and let me know what you’re up to!