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Garden & Grow · 🌸 Spring

What to sow this month

A short, unfussy list of things that can typically get started around now.

Free · 20 min · Beginner · 4 min read

Seed packets, small terracotta pots and a bag of compost on a potting bench

Sowing is the cheapest thing you can do in a garden and the one most likely to be put off until it's too late.

This is the short version: a handful of things that are usually worth starting around now, and what to do if you only have a windowsill.

Usually worth starting now

  • Salad leaves — the fastest reward there is, and happy in a shallow pot
  • Herbs such as basil, coriander and parsley, indoors while nights are cold
  • Sunflowers, in a pot on a bright sill, planted out once the risk of frost has passed
  • Peas or beans, once the soil has warmed and doesn't feel cold to the hand
  • Radishes, if you'd like something to eat within a few weeks

How to give a sowing its best chance

  1. Fill a pot with fresh compost and tap it down gently — don't compact it.
  2. Sow thinly. Almost everyone sows too much, then has to thin it out.
  3. Water from below where you can, so you don't wash the seed around.
  4. Give it the brightest spot you have. Leggy seedlings are usually a light problem.
  5. Label it. You will not remember.

A note on timing

Timing can vary depending on where you live and local conditions — in cooler parts of the UK things often happen a little later.

If you only have a windowsill

A single pot of cut-and-come-again leaves will give you weeks of picking, costs less than one bag of salad, and counts entirely.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

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