Lovely Spring flowers in jars, bouquets or buckets, are available to order now and can be delivered from Saturday 1 May. The ranunculus, tulips and anemones are still the stars this week with honesty, hesperis and geums joining them.

As well as flowering plants, there are the first of the tender vegetables and tomatoes available if you grow under cover or have somewhere to protect them from potential frost. The nights are getting warmer next week, but there still could be frost later.

Delivery is free within 5 miles of Oxford with a small charge for longer, but local distances. A minimum order of £5.00 applies. Payment can be made by BACS, cheque or cash.

The Homesown stall will be at SOFACOMA Market, just off Lake St, this Sunday from 10.00am until midday. If you would like to pre-order flowers or plants for collection there, just let me know by Saturday midday.

Email: thedevelopingplot@gmail.com

Flowers

Prices: Small jam jar: £6. Large jar: £10.00.

Bouquets start at £15.00

Flower Bucket starts at £20

If you would like flowers weekly, fortnightly or monthly, ask about a flower subscription.

Plants:

A limited number of perennials this week.

Campanula Persicifolia Blue Bells: a truly lovely blue bellflower with graceful stems that grow from a mound of low growing leaves. Loved by butterflies and bees. A cottage garden favourite and a wonderful cut flower too. £4.50 a one litre pot.

Knautia Macedonia: one of my top favourite plants, it is a great favourite with pollinating insects. It has a neat rosette of leaves and truly lovely magenta scabious type flower on wiry stems. Can grow up to 75 cms (30 ins). Prefers a sunny spot in well drained soil, but copes very well with my clay soil in part shade. Clumps up every year and can be divided. 9 cm pot:£2.50

Silene Blushing Lanterns: A new one for this year, sown in late Winter from local seed, it is a beautifully airy and delicate bladder campion which will bulk up year on year and can be divided for new plants. Ideally should be planted in full sun in well draining soil. It can reach up to 60 cms and should be planted 30 cms apart. An excellent cut flower at all stages, but lovely in the garden too. 7cm pots £2.00

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Scented leaved Pelargoniums

There are three varieties of scented pelargoniums available in 12/14cm pots. Some are coming into bud now and all should be flowering and ready to go outside when the hard frosts are over. If you feed them with dilute seaweed solution or tomato feed, they will flower through to the Autumn and beyond.

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Long flowering with different (but pretty) pink flowers, all three varieties have very attractive scented leaves which can be used to make teas. Lara Starshine is lemon scented; Attar of Roses, as the name suggests is rose scented and Lady Plymouth’s variegated leaves are a mix of both lemon and rose. 12/14cm pots £3.00 & old terracotta pots £4.50

Annuals:

Daucus Carota: a very pretty cultivated version of wild carrot which can grow to 1.5 metres given the right conditions in sun or part sun. Its flowers vary in colour from white to deep purple with pinks inbetween. It is loved by pollinating insects. 7cm pot: £1.00

Scabiosa stellata: drumstick scabious which is good value for its attractive blue flowers and unusual seedheads which are excellent for drying. Likes sun and should be planted 30cms apart. Can grow up to 70 cms if it likes your conditions. 7cm pot: £1.50

White Corncockle (Agrostemma githago Ocean Pearl) Hardy Annual: a beautifully graceful cottage garden plant. Its milky white flowers have lovely grey speckles in their throat. Gives airy movement in the garden and makes a wonderful cut flower. Can grow up to 18 inches. Enjoys sun. Be aware that all parts of the plant are toxic if ingested. Can tolerate low temperatures. Last few pots which need to be planted out very soon. 7cm pot £1.00

Cornflower Classic Fantastic Plugs: Cornflower in a wonderful range of blue to almost white shades: 50p each

Fruit & Vegetables

Tomato Plants: back in February I couldn’t stop myself sowing tomato seeds even though I knew it was too early. So it is no surprise that I have a greenhouse full of tomato triffids. There are lots ready to go to new homes, but they shouldn’t be planted out in the open until they have been fully hardened off and any danger of frost has gone. They can be planted under cover now. I also sowed more seeds in March and have smaller plants too. See below.

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There are 4 varieties available in different size pots. All are picked because they are reliable and taste delicious. :

Black Krim: Perhaps the most delicious tomato of all. It can be grown either under cover or outside once the weather is good. It produces large fruit in abundance which are fantastic either eaten raw or cooked in sauces. These are already big tall plants starting to flower. They have been potted on so can stay in their pots for a few weeks until they are planted out. £2.00 a large pot.

Sungold: A favourite orange skinned cherry tomato which is perhaps the sweetest of all. £2.00 a medium pot.

Gardeners Delight: a reliable, tasty red cherry tomato. Medium/large pot £2.00

Tigerella: a medium sized tomato which is red with yellow stripes when ripe. It has excellent flavour. £1.50 a small pot; £2.00 medium pot.

There will be a small number of these at the market on Sunday, but they can be pre orderd for collection and delivery.

Courgette Romanesco: The first batch of courgettes are ready in medium pots for £1.50. Again, these need protection from the frost. They can be kept in their medium sized pots for awhile.

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