A Delightful Plant Combination for a Sunny Position

An independent research centre rated 'Fascination' as a Best Buy veronicastrum.  This is a hardy perennial that can reach the height of a woman.  it attracts bees and insects and can also be used as a cut flower.  And the icing on the cake is that its seedheads look good in winter too.

Try it with Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' (left).  This is a tall grass that grows to a similar height as the veronicastrum and that flourishes in poor dry soil.

Artemisia lactiflora 'Jim Russell' (right) would sit lovely in front of the veronicastrum as it grows around 18" shorter.  This has delightful sprays of fluffy white flowers from July to September

Plant Silphium Perfoliatum behind the veronicastrum and the grass as this hardy perennial can grow to the height of your average suburban room.  This will also bloom from July to September.

Finally, plant the lovely Filipendula rubra 'venusta' at the front and among the veronicastrum.  The Filipendula is a hardy perennial that only grows to about the height of a desk.

Apart from the grass that will start to fall over if the roots are too wet, all these plant need a reasonable amount of water.  The Artemisia  will also benefit from feeding.

You Can't Beat Peat for Compost

The two best buy composes as determined by independent laboratory test are:

Best for raising young plants: J Arthur Bower’s Traditional All-Purpose Compost (When buying, don’t confuse it with J Arthur Bower’s Multipurpose or Multipurpose with added John Innes as both did badly in the trials - just make sure the word "Multipurpose" isn't on the packet.

Best for containers was: Verve Grow Your Own Growing Bag.  This cost as little as 7p per litre and is available from B&Q.

Both these composts contain peat, but don't beat yourself up over it.  In spite of the crap pumped out by the Christophobic worshippers of Gaia, the earth goddess, the planet is actually laying down peat much faster than man could possibly consume it.

Growing Potatoes in Pots

April is the best month to plant potatoes outdoors.  Here's a great idea - grow them in pots.

Choose a large pot around 10 to 15 litres and quarter fill it one quarter full with compost taken from a Verve Grow Your Own Growing Bag (available from B&Q).  This is a Best Buy compost for containers and only cost 7p litre.

Bury one chitted tuber near the bottom, and top up with more of the same compost as it grows.  Protect it from frost - just bring it inside if there is a threat of frost, until the threat has passed.

"Seed Blanket"

There is a new product in the shops from the Gardening Success range called "Seed Blanket".

This product is just fine grade vermiculite, which is find, good even, for covering seeds to assist germination.  However, one can buy vermiculite for around £8 for 10 litres, but this product is charging £2.99 for just 600ml - which makes it six times the price!

Vermiculite is excellent for covering seeds: it reduced temperature fluctuations, holds moisture and is sterile, so fewer problems with damping off and fungal issues.  It is also very light, so seeds to not need to waste energy pushing through the covering.

But why pay six times the normal price for a small quantity in a fancy tube?

Crocks in Pots

It is a practice as old as the hills, lining pots with crocks supposedly to aid drainage.  But in reality it has been demonstrated to make no difference to the health of plants.

In fact soil scientist have demonstrated conclusively that water does not flow from a fine material like compost into a coarser one like broken pots.  Indeed, in wet summers crocks can do more harm than goods.

However, a light bulky material, such as polystyrene can still be useful if you have a large pot with small plants that do not need the depth of the pot for their roots.  This will reduce the volume of compost necessary and diminish the weight of the pot.