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VAL BOURNE says this is the right time to sow easily grown hardy annuals

The late doyenne of cottage gardening, Margery Fish, always said that March promised a lot and delivered very little. How right she was! Last month was bleak and it's held up work outside. So far I've only planted onion and shallot sets and broad beans. I am struggling to get early peas in the ground as I cannot find a dry enough day when I'm here.

But at least I can sow seeds under cover and this is the perfect time to sow hardy annuals. They are easy to grow. They want to germinate. There is no complicated regime of putting them in the fridge, then the airing cupboard and then incanting over the top with a magic wand and still waiting for two years. No, these get sown and they come up within 20 days.

You can scatter some larger seeded types straight on to the soil and pot marigolds or calendulas are probably best done this way. There are lots of varieties, but I have always enjoyed growing Indian Prince' ( from Mr Fothergill's) for its maroon-centred, warm-orange flowers. But there are lots of others on offer. You could also scatter poppies, blue cornflower (Centuarea cyanus), larkspur (Consolida ambigua) and clary (Salvia horminium). Saving the seeds of these makes it much more economical.

Pot marigolds are edible orange daisies. If deadheaded, they can flower for up to five months. African marigolds (which are fairly hardy) share the same sunny palette of oranges and browns and I often use them with calendulas in a border. Favourite leggier varieties of African marigolds include Bo Jangle' (from Sutton's) and Tall Scotch Prize' (from T & M). There are many compact varieties you could also use.

African marigolds seeds can be sprinkled into seed trays, very thinly, and once they have germinated and reached 3in, small clumps of two or three can be planted. But do protect them from slugs by hardening off the seedlings. This saves time pricking out and any large seed can be treated like this.

The two best contrasting colours with orange calendulas and marigolds are blue and lime-green. A completely blue form of clary is Blue Denim' (from Mr Fothergill's) this old-fashioned annual has a sturdy, stiff-stemmed habit and a short spike of tiny flowers surrounded by blue bracts. It's a good contrast with button-daisy shapes.

Lime-green is also fantastic with orange and I love the umbellifer Bupleurum griffithi Decor' (Chiltern Seeds) for its neatly edged flowers. There are two white annual umbellifers, the early delicate Ammi majus and the later Ammi visnaga. The latter resembles wild carrot. I also love Orlaya grandiflora, a grey-leaved white umbellifer found in the Mediterranean. So it likes dry summers best of all and then it produces large, hooked seeds (the latter three are from T & M).

Annuals aren't just colourful, however. They are nectar-rich and pollinator friendly. They draw in bees, hoverflies, lacewings and butterflies with their energy drink - their nectar. In return these creatures pollinate crops.

Umbellifers are highly appreciated by hoverflies and lacewings. Their tiny flowers suit the tiny mouths of the hoverflies and both have predatory larvae that eat aphids. So annuals contribute greatly to a naturally-managed garden.

10:33am Thursday 3rd April 2008

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