Get ready for bedding

NOW'S THE TIME TO BUY PLUG PLANTS TO GROW ON FOR SUMMER COLOUR

- DIARMUID GAVIN

MARCH is the month gardeners annually yearn for, marking the transition from winter to spring. The spring equinox comes on March 20 when the sun crosses the celestial equator - an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth's equator - and moves northward.

The days begin to get longer and warmer and it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get prepared for busy gardening.

Most of us will want to enjoy colourful flowers during the summer and no matter what size space you have, summer bedding plants will do the job. Lobelia, geraniums, begonias, fuchsias, petunias, zinnia, marigolds, busy lizzies, and gazanias are the essential ingredients for summer pots, window boxes, hanging baskets and borders.

You can buy them now as plug plants - these are small individual seedlings or cuttings and by doing the work of nurturing them to full size, it'll cost a lot less than purchasing them in summer.