Gardeners around the country have been urged to use a pencil when growing certain plants this month.
Sharing his latest gardening advice with fellow horticulturists earlier this month, former Gardeners’ World presenter Alan Titchmarsh revealed how he uses a pencil to help him plant sweet peas.
Carefully explaining the common gardening task on his YouTube channel, he said: “Space three of them out on the surface of the compost equidistantly, three of them will go in there and then poke them in with a pencil about a centimeter deep and just flick the compost back over them.”
After sowing his seeds earlier this month, the gardening expert returned to them this week to see their progress and complete the next phase of their growth.
He said: “This is such a wonderful moment however long you’ve been gardening, you grow a few seeds, dry as dust and you think what can they possibly do, and then you end up with young plants.”
Once the seedlings have grown to the point were they have started to emerge from above the compost, Alan said that it is now time to start “pricking them out”.
The expert then explained the next phase of their development ahead of finally planting them out in the open in the summer.
Using a wooden seed tray to house the plants for the next stage of their development, Alan said: “This is where we do the operation that we call pricking out.”
Meanwhile, he explained how the task has got it’s name, showing that to get the best results, gardeners should use a pricking motion to make an indentation in the compost to then plant the roots of the plant.
After spending approximately a month in the wooden seed tray it will be time for the adolescent plants to then be moved to either a large pot or to it’s own space in a garden where it will complete the remainder of it’s life cycle.
Meanwhile, away from sharing his latest plant growing advice on his own YouTube channel, he was recently seen airing more advice for gardeners during an appearance on Waitrose’s channel as he shared how to keep any unwanted weeds away from our gardens.
Explaing how he uses a garden hoe to complete the task, he said: “A little hoe like this skimmed across the surface will chop up annual weeds, separate the roots from the shoots and they’ll fry in the sun.”
Making a name for himself down the years due to his appearances on an array of TV and radio shows, Alan is probably best known for appearing on Gardeners’ World from 1996 until 2002.
