What To Plant Now To Jumpstart Summer

Choose fast-growing, floriferous hardy and half-hardy annuals and our rainy spring need not put a dampener on your summer display, says Graham Rice.

- Graham Rice

I'm sure you don't need me to remind you that spring has been a bit of a washout this year. It was wet in March and most of us couldn’t get any seeds sown outside; then it was wet in April, too. So, unless you have a greenhouse, there’s some catching up to do – and even in the greenhouse it’s been so dark that many seeds have not grown well.

Luckily, there’s still time to recover, and we can make a start now by choosing the right plants and the right varieties, and getting those seeds in the ground. Because we might still be hit by a late frost in some areas, the first group to think about are hardy annuals. However, some half-hardy annuals will also flower well in summer from a may sowing, so let’s not forget about them, either.

To jumpstart the summer flowering season we need plants that germinate quickly, grow quickly and come into flower early, and can tolerate a mild late frost if we get one. We also need options that will fill gaps left after the wallflowers, spring daisies and spring violas have been removed, and that will slot in among the perennials that are already going strong.

Whether you choose hardy or half-hardy annuals, there are three approaches to sowing. Seeds can be sown outside where they are to flower, just as you would’ve liked to have done in March. Your second option is to sow them in small pots or cells and put them in a cosy place outside to germinate – perhaps inside a clear polythene bag or covered with a plastic lid for protection. And third, you can sow in small pots or cells that can be kept on a windowsill indoors until they germinate, then moved to a sheltered place outside before they start to stretch.