LAST week I talked about how it is now time to be thinking about the sowing of seeds, particularly for seeds that need a long season to germinate and develop such as the tuberous begonias.

You may also recall that I began to sow some seeds earlier, over the Christmas period I sowed my large exhibition onion and pot leek seeds, to which I was pleased to see at the beginning of the week that they have germinated. You may recall that I sowed these seeds in my windowsill heated propagator, which was placed on my spare bedroom window. Still there is a long way and growing to do before I can plant them out in the garden late March.

Over the weekend I also sowed further seeds, again using a heated propagator to provide a bit of early germination warmth. This time I sowed Celery Victoria which is a blocking variety, and Celery Maritime which is a trenching variety. Although they are both Celery they are grown somewhat differently. Yow will be aware that celery stems need to grow excluding light which provides the white and sweet crunch stems. Trenching celery is where you actually excavate a trench to around 30cm and plant the young celery at the base of the trench, as the celery grows you back fill the trench which buries the celery stems and keeps them white. Blocking celery on the other hand is planted in a close block at ground level, as the celery grows it knits into each other, this way keeping the light away from the stems, though some of the celery along the edge of the block will not be so white as light penetrates the stems, though using cardboard along the edge of the block will help in keeping some of the celery stem white.

I also sowed some herbs, particularly for early first year harvesting, again sown in heated propagator to help germination, interestingly these herb seeds were provided as a seed mat, this is where seeds have been sandwiched between biodegradable sheets, which the seeds are evenly space and the mat is trimmed to fit the container. The herbs I sowed were basil, coriander, mint, chives and parsley. Herbs which I do use quite frequently in cooking. Talking of herbs, did you know that the banana plant is the tallest herb in the world!

Over the weekend, it was not just my germinating seeds that I was pleased to see in my garden, and from my photograph this week you can see that my Hamamelis × intermedia ‘Magic Fire’ has started to bloom with the added benefit of being fragrant. Hamamelis and their forms are commonly known as ‘Witch Hazel’ and its medical properties are well known for treating several conditions. Interestingly, the Witch in Witch Hazel, does not relate to one who practices magic! It originates from an old English word ‘wiche’ meaning bendable as to the wood of the hazel.

Hamamelis are a deciduous shrub or can be shaped to make a small tree. Actually, they do make a good woodland border plant and prefer neutral to acid soil and can grow in full sun or part shade. As they flower very early in the year, they would benefit from some shelter rather than grown direct open space. Once planted, they can take a couple of years to settle and establish a good root system before seeing good top growth.

There are a few Hamamelis varieties available and most are grafted plants rather that seed sown as by grafting, this provides a significant more floriferous plant. As such, and due to being more labour intensive in production, they do tend to be more expensive than mainstream plants.

One of the more common Witch Hazel seen growing in gardens is Hamamelis mollis which has bright yellow flowers. Hamamelis ‘Diane’ has deep red flowers, Hamamelis ‘Vesna’ has deep orang flowers whereas Hamamelis ‘Jelena’ has coppery orange flowers.

In addition to the early and fragrant flowering of Hamamelis, they also provide further interest with good autumn leaf colouring making then a versatile plant.