Cor Blimey! It’s only mid May and I’ve just eaten my first strawberry from the beds in the front garden. It was sweet and delicious and hopefully in a week or so, I’ll have enough strawberries to make an Eton mess-a favourite for one of my favourites.
With yet another day of promised rain passing by, and not a drop felt, I finally caved in and gave the veg a good soak.
The tulips and daffodils dying back in the front garden look messy, but I want them to be able to store up enough energy (by photosynthesizing ) for next near, so the leaves stay until they’ve died right back. The strange upright plant popping up in the left-hand corner of the back bed is a caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris), and planted once, you’ll never be without this curious spurge again, as it self seeds like crazy by catapulting its seeds as far as it can.
Also at the back of the border, I’ve planted out about a dozen sunflowers for a show later in the year and I’ve started taking advantage of gaps appearing by planting out some leeks a friend gave me. Front garden definitely taking on a potager feel (mixture of veg and flowers in the same bed).
So here’s a quick ‘how to’ plant leeks. Although it looks fairly small, I’ve planted my home -grown leeks when they were only about 4 to 5 inches long previously, and they’ve always grown well from such a tiny start. This leek was getting pot-bound, so I’ve given it a very good soak to loosen the roots before planting out.
With a stick, make a generous hole for your leek.
Let the leek drop into the hole,
and then water it into the hole with plenty of water.
There’s no need to firm the leek in with your hands as the water has helped the roots make contact with the soil. It should be fine from now on, but if it still doesn’t rain, make sure you don’t let it dry out.
Out in the back garden, some flowers are being rather forward too. I’ve seen agapanthus heads already forming in a client’s garden(about 6-8 weeks early), and these self-sown Nigellas (above) also seem to be flowering weeks earlier than normal. Don’t think I had any in flower until July las year. With so much happening in the garden now, I wonder what will be left to see in July and August. Luckily, I ‘ve grown loads of Nicotiana sylvestris (tall tobacco plants) and Cleome from seed and I certainly will be needing these to fill in gaps left this year. It’s still not too late to sow some annuals to fill in gaps in the border. There’s also a great article about how to delay your perennials from flowering by Robin Lane Fox at the FT which is a really useful read if you’re concerned about flower beds with no flowers come the summer proper. Anything strange happening in your gardens too?
Out of my shed 
Great info about planting leeks! I’ve never grown them and mine (started from seed) are about the same size as yours.
How long does the bloom of your Nigella last? I’ve never seen those before- quite a show!
Steve-each bloom lasts for about a week in this unseasonally hot weather. With cooler temps and a bit of rain, possibly a bit longer. Naomi
Hi Steve. Nigellas normally flower from 6-8 weeks, especially if you dead-head them. Not sure how long each individual bloom lasts though-you’ve got me thinking now. Will be checking to see when these flowers go to seed and will get back to you. However, I do get entranced by their amazing seeds heads which look like little aliens pods, so I probably shorten their flowering season by letting them go to seed. If you sow these annuals successionally every few weeks from March (in the UK), you’ll get a longer season. And once you’ve sown them one year, they are great self seeders and you should get repeat performances every year. V.best Naomi
Thinking about planting out my leeks too but they still seem so tiny! (I usually buy the seedlings and they’re much bigger, but this year I’ve grown from seed…) Will have to take the plunge soon!
Go on Nome! Take the plunge now. Nothing like experimenting….Naomi
Thanks for the info. They look stunning! I’ll have to try finding some here in the USA.
I dont think I have ever seen or heard of them before.
My strawberries are flowering beautifully but no fruits yet. My garden’s in Stockport; I’m interested to know how many weeks behind London we are. We’ve have loads of rain in the last few days so no need to water. I’ve got some giant poppies and giant daisies that look fab at the moment (can’t remember their real name). Delphiniums coming on nicely. Love your blog -great photos!
You mention cleomes, a plant I’m particularly fond of. I once had some from seed I collected that did very well, but wonder if they are annuals as they died back at the end of the summer and never came back again. I’ve not seen the seeds for sale anywhere. Perhaps you know where to get them?
Great post, Naomi. I had heard that England was hotter and drier than normal–but really enjoyed reading all the details. Seems your spring is not too far off ours in the Southern US this year.
Strawberries and Nigella and lots of larkspur blooming here now. I also have lots of cleome and flowering tobacco (nicottiana) put aside for June and July when my blooms usually hit a lull.
Question for you: How do you hold these annuals back to fill gaps? Do you pot them up in larger pots then transplant? I’m always looking for new ways to make my “fill in blank” plants happier and healthy while they wait for their move to the beds.
And thanks for the leek tip. I planted mine in the veg garden today, thanks to you.
Wishing you a nice rain, Christine
Pauline, very envious of your rain.We’ve had a couple of showers in the last 2 days, but garden is still parched with hardly any rain for 2 month now. Unbelievable!
Gaby, I love Cleomes too and hardly ever seen them sold as bedding plants. Seem to be very popular in France as often seen them there when on holiday and at the Chaumont garden festival (in France) in many of the show gardens. Seeds available online from Nicky’s Nursery in white and pink and also from Chiltern Seeds who offer 5 (!) varieties of Cleome spinosa in different shades of pink and white and some other interesting Cleome varieties too.
Hi Christine, yes we’re having a very interesting spring and not sure if this is a sign of things to come. My garden may just be full of Euphorbias at this rate as they are the most successful survivors in my garden at present. Yes, just about to pot on Cleomes and Nicotianas as bursting out of their small pots. Also might sprinkle some more Nigellas and night scented stock directly onto the borders to see how these do too. Off now to do a rain dance. Naomi