GARDENS:Plant the hardy annuals and pack up your troubles
OCCASIONALLY, when I am having one of my communing-with-nature moments, I stand on the edge of the patio and stick my head right into the nearby border of plants. This is the most convenient way to be at one with the bees and the hoverflies in this particular nectar-rich patch. Their collective buzz, in all its varied tones and volumes, is soothing and reassuring. It says to me that while the rest of life may sometimes be difficult and incomprehensible, here at least there is benign order and productivity (and some very nattily striped outfits on the hoverflies).
Many of the plants in this bed are annuals. Among them are half-hardy annuals such as cosmos, nasturtium and the world’s first red rudbeckia, ‘Cherry Brandy’ (a fine-looking thing from Thompson Morgan), as well as hardy kinds – poppies, pot marigold, cornflower and love-in-a-mist.
Annuals, as the name suggests, are plants that complete their lifecycle in one year: starting out as a seed, germinating, flowering and then making their own seeds before popping off to the compost heap. Half-hardy annuals come from more clement climes than ours, and include plants such as busy lizzies (Impatiens) from east Africa, and cosmos and zinnias from the warmer parts of the American continent. On their home turf they may, in fact, be perennial, but because they cannot tolerate frost, they are generally started anew each year here. The seeds are best sown in early spring, indoors and with some heat – to mimic the balmy conditions of their mother country. They must be “hardened off” (gradually exposed to cooler conditions outdoors) before they can finally take their position in the big, bad world of the flower border. Hardy annuals, on the other hand, are much tougher, and require little of the coddling demanded by their exotic cousins. It is for this reason that I want to direct your attention to them today.
Hardy annuals are so obliging that they may be started in autumn as well as in spring. You can sow their seed any time between now and the end of October (or later, in some cases) and save yourself a whole heap of work next March and April – when every single other thing in the garden is roaring at you for attention. Not only does this give you the virtuous feeling of being ahead of the game, but also, the little seedlings that emerge this year offer a tangible promise of next year’s bee-loud borders and beds.
Autumn-sown annuals make little top growth in the months after sowing, but underneath the surface, the roots are inching their way through the compost or soil. Come spring, the plantlets jump into growth, fortified by the strong network of roots. The resulting plants bloom weeks earlier than spring-sown ones, and are invaluable for filling awkward spaces left after the first flowers of summer fade. All annuals, of course, be they hardy or half, are inexpensive to grow from seed, and are a thrifty way of filling up a new or newly-bare garden. They also give you some breathing space, allowing you to take your time deciding on something more permanent.
And so to sow. But first, a word of advice on packets of seed (and this applies to all seeds, not just those of annuals). Don’t use up the whole packet in a single sowing: usually there is far more than you need. Depending on the variety and the way it is processed and stored, seed may remain viable for many years (with most kinds being good for two or three). If you sow only as much as you require, you’ll save money, and you’ll also have replacement seed at hand should something go badly wrong with a batch.
Annuals that need no protection (see list below) can be sown directly into the ground. This is useful where you have a large area. Otherwise, sow in pots or modules. To direct sow, clear the ground of weeds, taking care to dig up the roots of perennials such as bindweed, dandelion and dock. Rake the surface repeatedly, until you have a “fine tilth”: a crumbly, stone-free surface. Using a bamboo cane, draw parallel lines in the soil, about 1cm deep. The space between them should be the planting distance recommended on the packet. Sow very sparsely along the lines and pull the soil back over (you can use the back of the rake). When the seeds germinate, and when the plants are growing strongly, they may be thinned out to the correct spacing. The parallel lines allow you to spot (and remove) weed seedlings, and the rigid pattern disappears as the plants mature, so your annuals don’t seem to be standing to attention in ranks. Drawing the lines at an angle to the plot further helps to disguise their regularity.
Sowing in containers is likely to give a better success rate, as there will be less attention from slugs, snails and other pests (including cats, if you live in an urban area). Use seed compost, or create your own gritty, free-draining mix, by combining one part horticultural sand with one or two parts multipurpose compost (you may need to sieve it if it is coarse). Use small pots for large seeds (sweet pea), and modules for everything else. Modules make potting on easy, and cause minimum root disturbance – which is important at this time of the year, when growth and repair is slow. Follow the instructions on the seed packet for the planting depth.
jpowers@irishtimes.com
Sculpture in Context, exhibition continues until October 16th at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. Open daily, 9am-6pm. Admission free. Car park: €2.
Autumn Annuals
The following need no protection (but will fare better in an unheated greenhouse or polytunnel):
Pot marigold ( Calendula officinalis)
Cornflower ( Centaurea cyanus)
Larkspur ( Consolida species and cultivars)
Viper's bugloss ( Echium vulgare)
Flax ( Linum grandiflorum)
Poached egg plant ( Limnanthes douglasii)
Annual toadflax ( Linaria reticulata)
Love-in-a-mist ( Nigella damescena)
Corn poppy (including Shirley and ladybird kinds) and opium poppy ( Papaver rhoes and P. somniferum)
Scabious ( Scabiosa atropurpurea)
The following need the protection of a cold frame, greenhouse, polytunnel or sheltered corner:
Cerinthemajor 'Purpurescens'
California poppy ( Eschscholzia californica)
Baby's breath ( Gypsophila elegans)
Sweet pea ( Lathyrus odoratus)
Annual mallow ( Lavatera trimestris)