COLUMN: Get set for 2025 with planning and planting

As we reach the end of the year, I hope you can look back and reflect on a fantastic year of growing, trying new things and having fun in the garden.

What did you enjoy the most? What do you want to try again with next year and what perhaps, have you grown because you thought you should but didn’t really enjoy? All of these factors can be planned into your growing season next year.

I find cracking on with some of the joyful flowers really lifts my spirits in these darker months. Have a go perhaps at starting off some sweet peas. These can be sown now and in fact doing so means not only will you have an early flowering, but the plants can often be stronger and healthier and have a longer flowering season. I grow mine in the inside of toilet rolls which can then be planted out intact. Sweet peas (like the eating pea) hate having their roots disturbed so this is an easy and cheap way of doing it. Leave them on a cold windowsill or unheated greenhouse if you have one. Be careful not to keep them anywhere too warm as they will grow too fast and become leggy. Try ‘Matucana’ – it’s easy to grow, smells divine and you can train it to grow up a trellis. Other favourites are ‘Elegant Ladies’, ‘Heirloom Mixed’ and ‘Antique Fantasy Mixed’, which are all highly scented and various beautiful colours.

I am moving away from the more traditional vegetables at the moment and trying out more winter salads. Lamb’s lettuce ‘Favor’ is a good one to sow from now, really all the way through the year. I am doing repeat sowings of these in a tray in a small, unheated greenhouse although I have harvested this in the snow before as it is remarkably hardy for such a fragile and tender tasting salad. If you haven’t tried microgreens before, that’s a great one to have a go at. You can buy complete kits at garden centres or online and have a mini garden growing on your kitchen windowsill in no time. Adding microgreens is a perfect way to pep up your sandwiches, salads and wraps.

December is also a great time to get some seeds ordered for the new year. Perhaps try something new that you can plant in January. I have ordered some blue globe thistle to try out in my sunny borders. They are wonderful for attracting pollinators and I am keen to try to grow something for some natural Christmas decorations next year. On that note, have a wonderful Christmas (maybe plant some onions on Boxing Day which is the day for it, according to a long-standing tradition) and see you for more gardening tips in January.