Seeds to sow in January, February and March Sarah Raven says will fill spring gardens with colourful cut flowers

It’s that time of year again when gardeners are itching to get started, but the cold weather can feel like a major obstacle. With grand plans for the garden percolating in our heads the desire to get our hands dirty begins to reach fever pitch.

Which is why, when gardening guru, Sarah Raven, gave her permission to start sewing a variety of seeds right now it felt like Christmas all over again. So while the green-fingered have to wait until the last frost to really begin in earnest outdoors, there is still plenty to be getting on with from the warmth of the potting shed.

In fact Sarah says, if you’re looking to fill your spring garden with colourful cut flowers, “now is the time to start sowing”. You don’t have to tell us twice Sarah!

In episode 205 of the Grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven and friends podcast, the 61-year-old turned her attention to the cut flowers she’ll be sowing from January onwards. Working week by week, she creates an invaluable sowing calendar we can all easily follow at home.

If you are new to the podcast it’s well worth a listen as she is always sharing tips from her years of experience in the garden. In this episode Sarah talks about the meditative quality to seed sowing, her top performing seed recommendations, and tips on growing sweet peas.

Seeds to plant now according to Sarah Raven

January: The seeds Sarah recommends sowing in January are “dominated by scent” - she recommends starting with the following:

• Sweet pea ‘Erewhon’ or ‘Matucana’
• Honeywort (cerinthe)
• Cup-and-saucer plant (cobaea scandens)

February: To add a pop of colour to your garden, Sarah recommends planning ahead and sowing the following in February:

• Snapdragons like ‘Liberty Crimson’
• Linaria ‘Sweeties’

March: In March Sarah recommends “an absolute winner for the garden for pollinators, for birds and for sharing with guests”. She suggests sowing:

• Salvia viridis ‘Blue’
• Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Cat’

Sarah has led the way in gardening over the past 20 years by introducing a new kind of productive gardening which places emphasis on intense colour, sophistication, and achievability. Her grow, cook, eat, arrange, weekly podcast is recorded at the beautiful Perch Hill Farm in Sussex, where Sarah talks with special guests from across garden design, floristry, food, ecology, conservation, and more.

A new episode is released every Friday - just in time for the weekend - and you can also catch up on past episodes, brimming with top tips and helpful hints. You can also find ‘show notes’ on the Sarah Raven website - so no need to attempt to guess the spelling of all those latin plant names!

If you would like to listen in, you can visit the website - sarahraven.com/podcast - or find it via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.