The Gentle Touch

Last year we bought some wallflowers from a local nursery that has since closed and we were on the look-out for another supply. Up until last week the only ones we found were tiny plants grown in trays of six and in our opinion very over-priced. The last week we visited another nursery and happened to see some bundles of wallflowers for sale. We bought a couple which have been patiently waiting to be planted on the plot where they will hopefully provide a bit of colour and perfume next spring.

Wallflowers are brassicas and so it's important that they are not planted in any vegetable beds especially not in those that will later be planted up with anything from the brassica family. We plant ours in beds containing fruit bushes and trees. Not only does this keep them away from the vegetables but being alongside the shed and our seating area we can enjoy them when having a coffee break (weather permitting of course!)

We couldn't plant the wallflowers as quickly as I would have liked so the plants may look a little worse for wear but they should recover.

Next year I've decided to raise my own plants from seed so hopefully will have more control over when they are planted out.

As well as planting the wallflowers I also planted some tulips, some came free as part of an earlier bulb order; others had been dug up after flowering last spring and had been kept in the plot greenhouse.

Before planting the areas needed tidying a little.

At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking not much tidying had taken place but that's where the gentle touch comes in. I plant annuals in the pear tree bed and many of these still had some flowers. If a plant is flowering, in spite of it being November and the conditions not being ideal, then the least I can do is leave them alone until they decide that enough is enough.

There is also the added bonus that many annuals will self seed and provide plants for next year - some, having cross-pollinated, will maybe produce something a little different. Some self-sown seeds have already germinated so, in places, an even more gentle touch was called for. It's worth getting to know your plants so that you can recognise at an early stage which seedlings are weeds and which aren't. I was especially careful around this patch of candytuft seedlings.

I also spotted a young Ladybird poppy which was carefully moved into a more suitable position. Fingers crossed that it doesn't mind the move as I love Ladybird poppies and hope more will spring up to join this one.

Then there was the tub in which a tiny fig is trying to grow. Toadflax that we regret buying some years ago is in need of a serious seeing to. (The toadflax was sold as a rockery plant and the tiny purple flowers on the diminutive plant looked very appealing at the time. Nowhere was any warning that this plant is  one of those plants that attempts world domination and is almost impossible to get rid of! It was planted in the garden where it is a nuisance but somehow it has also managed to find its way onto the plot). Anyway I digress so back on subject - it's always worth looking closely before starting to rip out unwelcome plants as in this case growing in amongst the toadflax is - at least one and possibly three - self-sown verbena bonariensis. As we have no longer any of these plants on the plot, the seeds must have been laying dormant in the soil.

This was an especially welcome find as I want to raise more verbena bonariensis for planting in the front garden. As it was those already planted there were young plants 'found' on the plot and relocated.

The moral of this post is "Look Before You Weed and Where Necessary Employ the Gentle Touch". 

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author by S Garrett