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Growing Matters,
Lancaster & Morecambe College,
Torrisholme,
Morecambe,
Lancashire,
LA1 2TY,

Tel: 01524 581405

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Summer
Hanging
Baskets

Every basket is made to a professional standard.  All baskets are filled with a good selection of basket plants that will flower throughout the summer.

£20 for a 14" basket

Order yours today!

Deer
Sculptures

£20 each

Hand Made
Ceramic Faces

£18 each

On sale in the Country Craft Shop.

General Advice

Alpine flowers from seed
Grow perennial plants from seed
Herbs and their uses
Planning a garden
Plants for problem places
Plant Facts

Many rockery plants for sale in garden centres are easily grown from seed and late autumn to early spring is the best time to sow them. The reason for this is that the seeds require a period of cold or even frost before they will germinate.

You will need:-

• An old wooden cupboard drawer.
• 2 bags of sharp sand.
• 1 bag of John Innes seed and cutting compost.
• 1 bag multipurpose compost.
• A bucket of ¼ inch stone chippings.
• Some 3 inch - 4 inch clay pots.

1. Drill 4 holes in the base of the drawer and cover these with a flat piece of slate or broken flower pot.

2. Place the drawer in a place that is exposed to the frost and where it is convenient to check on when the seedlings appear. Keep it clear of the soil by standing the drawer on 4 bricks or pieces of timber.

3. Fill the drawer to within 1 inch of the rim with sharp sand.

4. Compost - The most important factor with alpines is drainage so mix the compost as follows:

• 1 part multipurpose compost.
• 1 part John Innes.
• 1 part sharp sand.

Place a few chippings at the bottom of the clay plant pots and fill to within ¼ inch of the rim.

5. Gently scatter your seed evenly over the surface and cover them with ¼ inch of stone chippings.

6. Water the pot gently with a fine rose.

7. Plunge the pot to below ½ inch below its rim in the box of sharp sand.

8. Leave the pot undisturbed till seedlings appear in spring. When these are ½ to 1 inch tall prick them out into 3 inch pots and grow on.