Annual Planting?

No this is a great time - look for hardy annuals and you can rake the soil to as fine as you can get it - try to do it in blocks it makes a better show in the summer.

Get the soil ready but but don't plant just yet as we do have frost about, which could wipe out all your hard work (unless hardy). I am in Lancashire and it is forecasting snow for Tuesday. Why don't you buy some perennials. You can buy tubers and plant them. You will get a display every year. There are some great offers at the moment and check out the pound shops some great buys. Also watch out for offer in the papers where you just pay the postage. I have just received a peony tree for a postage fee of £2.99.

Debs

I've been sowing like mad for the past few weeks. All hardy annuals will be fine planted where they are to flower. Half hardy annuals need to be started off in warmer conditions inside. I've got a lot of them outside now since our weather is warm at present, but may need to bring them in if a sudden frost is forecast.

Thanks for the advice. Didn't want to put in alot of work without any chance of success. I think I'll probably plant perennials next year. Would like some cheap easy colour this year to give me chance to do a bit of reading and garden visiting so i can have a go at planting perennials next year.

Thanks again

There are lots of annual seeds that sown now will give you colour within a few weeks - try Californian Poppies ('Escholzia') which come in shades of yellow, orange, pinkish and red, single or double, There's also Love-in-the Mist (Nigella) which is white, blue or mauve. Cornflowers come in different colours and Larkspur is a very pretty taller one. Other quick and easy ones I would go for are Godetia, Calendula and Candytuft. Hope this helps. You will have a very pretty garden if you sow all these for a very small amount of money! We have a Wilkinsons in the nearest town and they sell seeds for 39p per packet!!!!!