Seeds is a synonym for joyful promise

During the month of January the weather can be a bit hit and miss.  Some days you can get out into the garden to work, most days you cant.... whether it's because of rain or a hard frost, like today.  One of the activities I enjoy at this time is all the extra feeding of the garden birds and watching them from the warmth of the house..... another is planning on which seeds I'll be sowing.

I'm particularly fond of Sweet Peas and I've got some different ones to grow this Summer.  This one (above) is Royal Family mix. 

This one (above) is Air Warden

Above is Old Spice Starry Night

Sweet Peas are so obliging - their germination rate is excellent, they grow well with very little attention, they come in colours to suit everyone and, best of all, the majority of them are scented.  Furthermore, the more you pick the flowers, the more they will send out new blooms..... so, throughout the Summer you can have cut flowers for the house and flowers in the garden right up till Autumn.  Perfect!

Hyssop officinalis - blue

Hyssop is an evergreen bushy herb that can be used in cooking and for medicinal purposes.  The list of its health benefits is endless.... everything from digestive problems to treating wrinkles - think I'll be making myself some hyssop oil this year!  I especially want to grow it because it looks pretty and I love the shade of blue of its flowers.  I've also got some seeds of the white variety to try as well.  I've got a small section of the garden set aside for herbs - it will be growing in amongst lemon balm, parsley, rosemary and angelica.

Borago officinalis

Borage is another herb with pretty blue flowers.  It's sometimes referred to as Starflower because of the shape of the flowers.  You can make an infusion with the leaves - it has a subtle cucumber taste and makes a nice refreshing drink for hot Summer days. Both the flowers and leaves can be used in salads and if you pop a flower in each of the ice cube compartments, they make a healthy addition to your drinks.   Borage contains a host of vitamins and minerals and is particularly helpful to people with respiratory complaints.

Cichorium intybus

Chicory is a perennial herb.  The roots, when ground and roasted, make a healthy substitute for coffee and is said to cleanse the blood and improve the health of the liver.  The young leaves can also be used in salads.

 Sweet Pea Help for Heroes

The seed and plant company, Mr Fothergills is donating £1 for every packet of Sweet Pea Help for Heroes that is bought, to the charity of the same name.  Go here to buy your packet.

I found this lovely poem about the joys of seeds.

He Knows No Winter

He knows no winter, he who loves the soil,

For, stormy days, when he is free from toil,

He plans his summer crops, selects his seeds

From bright-paged catalogues for garden needs.

When looking out upon frost-silvered fields,

He visualizes autumn's golden yields;

He sees in snow and sleet and icy rain

Precious moisture for his early grain;

He hears spring-heralds in the storm's ' turmoil­

He knows no winter, he who loves the soil.

SUDIE STUART HAGER

My garden box of memories.....

What do you do with all the little plant labels you get with the plants you buy? I'm not a hoarder so it's quite possibly some kind of idiosyncrasy, but I cannot throw them away. It would be like discarding a part of my friends! The plants I have collected over the years are special and I like to hold on to the labels. I keep them in the box you can see in the photo and every now and then, I enjoy sifting through them. There are all sorts in there. Just to list a few:

• French Lavender
• Lobelia
• Geranium
• Foxglove
• Petunia
• Aubretia
• Primula
• Pansy
• Verbena
• Thyme

Every one of these labels represents a lovely day out somewhere, either to the garden centre or to some well-known garden. Most of the plants are thriving in my garden, some I've given away and, unfortunately, some haven't survived. Well, I never said I was another Percy Thrower! But the labels remain to remind me of sunny days (and some not so sunny) pottering around shelves of plants, choosing which ones would be coming home with me.

A few I wouldn't be without.

This is Mimulus or Monkey Musk. It's an incredibly easy to grow perennial and will self-seed itself, though not invasively. When you look at the flower up close, it looks just like a small orchid. It grows to a height of about 8ins (20.5cm), in clumps producing many flowers. It's well-known for growing round ponds, but I have it growing in the borders and between rocks. Mimulus is also very easy to grow from seed.

Here's the Alpine Strawberry, another plant that is easily grown from seed. I have this growing in the wildlife part of our garden...... the mice and birds need something to eat, don't they! :) It is low-growing and spreads and looks pretty alongside the blue Speedwell. The tiny white flowers are adorable, as are the small jewel-like fruits. You could eat the little strawberries if you wanted to...... they're quite tasty, but tiny!

This plant literally caused me to gaze in awe when the first buds bloomed. It's the Fuchsia, 'Trailing Millenium'. Fuchsias are amongst my favourite flowers and if you've seen this one, you'll understand why. The sepals are a carmine pink and the corolla (the part we think of as the petals) is the darkest of purple. To look at it you would swear it was made of velvet. With a name like 'Trailing Millenium' you'll guess that it's ideal to grow in hanging baskets which is fabulous because you can then situate them somewhere at eye level and gaze at them for ages and ages! :D

Lamium 'Beacon Silver' is a member of the Nettle family but, don't worry, it doesn't sting. In fact, it's one of the prettiest plants you could ever have in your garden. The pink flowers contrast beautifully with the silver and mint green leaves. Not only that, but it flowers all the year round! Admitedly more profuse in the Spring, Summer and Autumn, but there are still a few flowers on our plant today in January. This hardy spreading plant seems able to grow anywhere. I have it in the borders in full sun and growing in semi-shade under a weeping Birch tree. It will also provide a welcome source of food for the bees in your garden.

Ah well, better tidy up and put all the labels back in their box...... wonder which ones will be joining them this year!

Can you feel it?!

'The seed is hope; the flower is joy'.- Author Unknown

If there’s anything calculated to get my adrenaline rising faster than you can say photosynthesis, it’s seed-sowing time! This begins proper in February, but there are some that can be started off in the greenhouse in January….. And that’s only a few days away. Yay!

Here are the seeds I will be setting away in the coming week:
* Lobelia
* Petunia
* Alchemilla mollis
* Tomato (red cherry)
* Garlic Chives

I enjoy most elements of gardening, but filling up the seed trays, carefully covering the seeds with compost (or not as the case may be), spraying the trays gently with tepid water…. until, as if by magic, tiny green shoots appear just above the soil level is one of the best ever joys I will never tire of. I suppose it's not magic, but a never-ceasing miracle. Even comparing the form and shape of seeds is fascinating….. look at the difference between a nasturtium seed and a poppy seed!

The photograph was taken in my greenhouse a couple of months ago. It's full of plants I'd set away last Summer and Autumn. Many of them will be going into the coldframe to make space for this year's 'babies'.

This author says it all:

'Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising that the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof. Take that Poppy seed, for instance: it lies in your palm, the merest atom of matter, hardly visible, a speck, a pin's point in bulk, but within it is imprisoned a spirit of beauty ineffable, which will break its bonds and emerge from the dark ground and blossom in a splendor so dazzling as to baffle all powers of description'.- Celia Thaxter

http://theseedsite.co.uk/index.html This is an excellent website on probably everything you may need to know about seeds!

'The seed has no idea of being some particular plant, but it has its own form and is in perfect harmony with the ground, with its surroundings ... and there is no trouble. This is what we mean by naturalness'.- Shrunyu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind