This Week’s Guest Blogger is Mike Rogers, an allotmenteer, armchair gardener, blogger and sofa flying book buff who writes Flighty’s Plot
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Much as I like to grow soft fruit and vegetables on my Flighty’s plot allotment (https://flightplot.wordpress.com) it’s annual flowers that I really enjoy growing. In recent years I’ve grown California Poppies, Candytuft, Cornflowers, Cosmos, Love-in-a-Mist, Nasturtiums, Poached Egg Plants, Pot Marigolds and Sunflowers. As I don’t have a greenhouse and limited windowsill space at home I sow nearly all the seeds direct in the spring. At the end of the season I collect and save seeds from most of them, let some self-seed and buy a few new ones. My favourites are the pot marigolds which are a mix of varieties, to which I’ll be adding a packet of Playtime Mix which won an award for consistent quality with a fine mix of single, semi-double and double flowers in bright, buff and pastel colours. I’ll also be trying the delightfully named Oopsy Daisy, which is a dwarf variety with bi-coloured flowers in a range of bright oranges and creamy yellows. The description for the Mixture of Varieties in the Chiltern Seeds Grow something new from seed catalogue says – To bring back fun into gardening, this is a jolly mixture to brighten gardens, lives and outlooks. Who could ask for more? My plot is rather exposed so I generally grow the knee-high sunflowers Musicbox. This year I’ll also be growing the slightly taller variety Sonja, which has dark-centred, golden-orange blooms. These are shown as being excellent for cutting, and I’m hoping that they’ll be good enough to exhibit at my local horticultural society’s annual show in early September.
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I’m always a touch apprehensive when I sow the nasturtiums Tom Thumb Mixedas the Chiltern Seeds catalogue description states – If you can’t grow these then you’d better give up gardening as a hobby. Thankfully so far they’ve always germinated, grown and flowered.Have a floriferous 2020!
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