Seeds you can sow now

Crops and flowers can be started this month

- Ruth Hayes

THE weather outside is frightful, and the fire is so delightful – and while we may have no great incentive for getting into the garden, we can at least start sowing and growing undercover for the year ahead.

Several ornamental and edible crops can be sown now, or prepared for shooting in early spring.

In the flower corner we have bedding plants, lobelia, antirrhinums (snapdragons), pelargoniums and begonias as well as sweet peas. They can all be sown now to give you a head start come late spring and early summer when the frosts have had their day.

Later this month you can also start thinking about sowing tomatoes and chillies, which need a long, slow germination in stable temperatures and good light undercover.

You can also start swelling your ranks of edible crops by chitting first early potatoes in egg boxes on a warm, light windowsill. Keep sowing herbs and salads every few weeks for a long and continuous succession of tasty leaves.