When you consider that many well respected gardeners started their lives working in council parks departments etc, it would be a great pity if that changed completely @AnniD. All that knowledge which can be passed on. I don't think Alan Titchmarsh did too badly out of it. Sure, they can change things a bit if they want, but there can be a happy medium. Isn't that what most people do in their gardens anyway. Not my thing, but I can admire the work , time and experience that goes into it.
Many of the best plants IMO are annuals, things like cosmos and various wildflowers and sunflowers. I like growing as much as possible from seed (and am lucky to have a propagator, many warm windowsills and an extremely tolerant husband) but still buy some annuals, things like bedding fuchsias and verbena sparkles that I can't grow from seed or get the seed for. I'd like to stop that once I get overwintering tender fuchsias down pat, tbh, as it does feel a bit wasteful.
I reuse the plastic packaging if they're trays but the snap open, large plug-type packaging isn't so easy to reuse.
I do have a neighbour (with a greenhouse) who claims she "can't" grow anything from seed, so perhaps more education about how easy it is would be a good thing.
There are far more important issues. If you like it, do it. I grow a lot from seed, but I still buy some bedding plants, for a bit of zing in some pots.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
There's a bit too much of this emotional blackmail going on in the gardening world nowadays IMO.
And that's a fact!. I've always considered the 'annuals industry' to be somewhat unsustainable- seed yes, plants no, but whatever I think it's something it isn't going to end anytime soon. Although I still buy peat based compost, so in many peoples eye I'm probably being somewhat hypocrytical.
I suppose that my initial post came from the fact that I was genuinely taken aback, and that's because I've just returned to gardening (hooray!) after 12 years of living on a narrowboat. Because I had no scope for even the pots people associate with narrowboat roofs (we had an extensive installation of solar panels on ours) I lost touch with what was going on on the horticultural frontline.
Now I've had time to consider the article, as well as the Andy Sturgeon one flagged up by Fire, I suspect that there's much truth in what's being said; I just needed it pointing out to me.
We moved to this sheltered housing bungalow last December. The garden, such as it is, was virtually barren (the previous tenant was a lady in her 90s, so not surprising really) and I've been a bit 'kid in a sweetshop' all spring, rushing about buying masses of much-loved and sorely missed plants.
Now that the basics are in place and seem to be thriving, I'm going to stop and have a think about all this, read more stuff etc. It's not the end of the world after all, it's just a pensioner pottering about..and getting off the treadmill of '5 trays for £15' or whatever and thinking about windowsill propagators and cuttings and harvesting seeds is quite exciting really!
Our local park in Ironbridge is a wonder of compromise, a smallish ornamental bit with pollinator-friendly bedding plants and other areas being left to their own devices. Gorgeous but, of course, a triumph of hope over experience, given the ever more frequent and ever more horrendous flooding that takes place.
Agree with Fairy,and lots of others. Normally,I grew a lot from seed,up till last year,I also bought a lot of tiny plug plants, early. Then did my hanging baskets Easter weekend,then they went out all lovely and bushy at the end of may. Well,last year,late frosts in may,my conservatory (which is also our dining room!) Had every single surface, the dinner table, window sills and side tables full of seedlings, some of which had had to be potted on 3 times. Frankly, the peat free compost is horrible, difficult to water,grew toadstools,very expensive. This year I waited, bought larger plants. You can sometimes buy them without sectional little pots
In terms of efficiency, nature has found a neat little way of packaging up plants for transport far away that is as ecologically friendly as you can get: seeds.
Plus they’re cheap
Unfortunately it’s tricky for some of us to grow some things from seed. Without a greenhouse I am experimenting with putting seeds into pots in partial shade around the garden, and I’ve got some cosmos seedlings doing quite well in the shadiest parts. Full sun locations seem barren so far.
Ive struggled to get basic perennials (rudbeckia) to come back following years, but again I seem to be having some success this year having left them in pots over winter, keeping them in partial shade and feeding them in spring.
I use annuals to fill gaps, usually grow successfully from seed (more variety available!) but this year has been a dreadful one for getting seeds to germinate or grow on once pricked out....I have trays of tiny seedlings that haven't grown at all since, and germination rates have been low for many things....don't know if it's the weather we've had or the Godwins peat-free compost I've used, but I had to get plugs in for my baskets and have just bought a couple of trays of nicotiana today to fill gaps since my seeds have done pretty much zilch (last year, in Sylvagrow compost, I had more huge nicotiana plants than I knew what to do with!). I have trays of cosmos, monarda, coreopsis, salvia farinacea and dahlias all grown from seed and all about 5cm tall....
Posts
Sure, they can change things a bit if they want, but there can be a happy medium. Isn't that what most people do in their gardens anyway.
Not my thing, but I can admire the work , time and experience that goes into it.
Indeed @Busy-Lizzie.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I reuse the plastic packaging if they're trays but the snap open, large plug-type packaging isn't so easy to reuse.
I do have a neighbour (with a greenhouse) who claims she "can't" grow anything from seed, so perhaps more education about how easy it is would be a good thing.
If you like it, do it.
I grow a lot from seed, but I still buy some bedding plants, for a bit of zing in some pots.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
I've always considered the 'annuals industry' to be somewhat unsustainable- seed yes, plants no, but whatever I think it's something it isn't going to end anytime soon. Although I still buy peat based compost, so in many peoples eye I'm probably being somewhat hypocrytical.
Now I've had time to consider the article, as well as the Andy Sturgeon one flagged up by Fire, I suspect that there's much truth in what's being said; I just needed it pointing out to me.
We moved to this sheltered housing bungalow last December. The garden, such as it is, was virtually barren (the previous tenant was a lady in her 90s, so not surprising really) and I've been a bit 'kid in a sweetshop' all spring, rushing about buying masses of much-loved and sorely missed plants.
Now that the basics are in place and seem to be thriving, I'm going to stop and have a think about all this, read more stuff etc. It's not the end of the world after all, it's just a pensioner pottering about..and getting off the treadmill of '5 trays for £15' or whatever and thinking about windowsill propagators and cuttings and harvesting seeds is quite exciting really!
Our local park in Ironbridge is a wonder of compromise, a smallish ornamental bit with pollinator-friendly bedding plants and other areas being left to their own devices. Gorgeous but, of course, a triumph of hope over experience, given the ever more frequent and ever more horrendous flooding that takes place.
Plus they’re cheap
Unfortunately it’s tricky for some of us to grow some things from seed. Without a greenhouse I am experimenting with putting seeds into pots in partial shade around the garden, and I’ve got some cosmos seedlings doing quite well in the shadiest parts. Full sun locations seem barren so far.
Ive struggled to get basic perennials (rudbeckia) to come back following years, but again I seem to be having some success this year having left them in pots over winter, keeping them in partial shade and feeding them in spring.