Total novice needs some help please with when to plant/sow things.

[navyeyelasH]

Heya I know absoultely nothing about gardens, mainly because I have never had one! I've just bought my first home and with it comes quite a big garden. So far my DPs mother has been a great help and has tidied it up for us but now we have lots of blank spaces. I have some time off over the next 2 weeks and would really like to put part of the garden together.

I want to make a little part of the garden into a sensory garden and have found a great website that gives a list of plants and the senses they relate to.

I can easily pick out the plants that I like the look of, but how do I know when they will need planting? Also can any plant go in a plany pot or only certain ones? Also can you buy plants as plants (ie I got some pansies today which look great) or do most come as seeds?

For eg the plants I like the look of are gay feather, lamb ears and bamboo amongst others. But I can't really move forward as I can't find out when these things need to have been planted.

Any help very much appreciated.

Hiya,
bamboo can be bought from garden centre quite big, B and Q have it as well for around £20 for a big plant. It is great and really easy as it will pretty much grow anywhere. I got three big ones for my garden and I love them. You are ok to plant them right now, just dig a big hole and add some compost.

dont know about the other plants you mentioned, why not get a big pack of wildflower seeds? Its not too late to plant seeds now straight into the ground.

Have a look at this website for great gardening advice www.gardenersworld.com/what-to-do-now/

Enjoy your garden!

also lavendar would be great for a sensory garden as it smells good and it's beautiful too, how about some ferns as well.

thanks for the replies nosleeptilbedtime, the link is ery very helpful. I have found the gay feather on it, it's this one. But I can't see where it says when to plant it. Is that what "Time to divide plants" means?

bump...

Am i right in thining if I can buy it from a garden centre it's fine to plant right now?

if it's in a pot you can plant it any time at all except the deepest midwinter or when the ground is appallingly soggy. Now will be fine. But do keep an eye out if it stays dry, they will need some watering.

You do need to think about what kind of sun and soil you are planting into. eg liatris likes it damp but lambs ears like it dry. They will proably be ok in somewhere middling.

do make sure your bamboo is a CLUMP former not a runner or the damn thing will take over your garden.

Seeds are good for filling spaces up. Look for ANNUALS and things that are happy to be sown outdoors but sow them in shapes so you can see whether what comes up is a weed or your seeds.

I'd stick to stuff in pots for now though.