As the weather starts to warm up, I am sure your sowing fingers are itching to get started, and yes, now is the time to plant seeds. Of course, the perennial favourites still feature, like basil and parsley, as well as the colourful annuals like painted sage, borage, pot marigolds and nasturtiums.

We have been very busy with our own planting here at the nursery, adding new Sages to our plant range including, Sage Blue Spires, S. Nutans, S. ‘Hot Trumpets’, S. recognita and S. ‘Rose Queen’ in preparation for our exciting display of Salvias at Tatton Park Flower Show. This is a first for us, and we have taken a separate stand to fully showcase the amazing variety and colour available in this one genre of plants. We have also been very busy with weed control, as I am sure you all are in your gardens up and down the country – but it does make the rest of the season that much easier if those determined dock and dandelion are headed off at this stage. We are also moving all our plants outside to harden them off, ensuring that they are ready to be planted out this year and thrive through the season. We are, however, still covering tender seedlings with fleece on cold evenings.

New plants have joined the stable here at Hooksgreen Herbs: Goji berry, Feverworth, Cornflower Black, Cornflower ‘Classic Romantic’, Cherry Skullcap, Lime Thyme, Strawberry Mint and Variegated Grapefruit Mint to name a few – both of these mints are to make an appearance at Chelsea Flower Show at the end of May.

The nursery is in full swing getting ready for Cardiff Flower Show, the first RHS Show of the year. We are going to be displaying in a new and exciting format of a ‘potted patio.’ As most of us have limited space in the garden, our patios and pots are an essential part of our planting. With this in mind, we have put together a display of herbs in pots, of every conceivable shape and size, to best showcase the different herbs and their versatility, toughness and abundance of colour and texture.