Now March has arrived, it’s tempting to rush into the garden with the seed packets, but the weather can still be freezing cold, so it’s not a good idea to sow crops outside just yet. Instead, focus on sowing seeds inside and taking care of overwintering plants, while the weather warms and the days lengthen.
In this series of clips from BBC Gardeners’ World, Monty cuts back his pelargoniums and fuchsias in preparation for putting these tender plants outside later in the season. Early spring is an ideal time to sow perennials and Monty demonstrates how to sow verbena, rudbeckia and delphiniums. He plants out rocket plugs in the greenhouse and vegetable garden, with the reminder that anything sown outside in the next few weeks will benefit from some protection against the cold.
More Monty video collections:
Starting perennials from seed
Rather than buying expensive perennials later in the season, Monty shows how to grow your own perennials easily from seed sown in early spring.
Taking fuchsia cuttings
Now that we’re coming into spring, Monty’s fuchsias and pelargoniums are starting to produce new growth. To avoid the plants becoming leggy, he cuts back to new shoots near the base and demonstrates how to use the off-cut shoots for taking cuttings that will develop into vigorous new plants.
Sowing early salad leaves
In this clip from BBC Gardeners’ World, Monty plants out early salad leaves such as rocket, which he sowed in plugs earlier in the year. He plants some in the greenhouse and some outside, where they will need some extra protection from fleece or a cloche.
