What is the right time  to plant out bedding plants is a questions often asked. It's easy to be confused because the garden centres and on line sales are advertising bedding from early in the year trying to catch our gardening spend.  In some garden centres the bedding can look quite mature, and even be in flower.

The straightforward guide is that bedding should not be planted out until all risk of frost has passed. Bedding plants, when cultivated in the UK, are tender and frost will damage or kill the plant, particularly young plants.

Also, the bedding plants we buy are in pristine condition with bright leaves and flowers. They look like this because they are grown in perfect conditions, with a regulated temperature and precise watering. When in the garden the plants face all sorts of conditions, drought, torrential rain, chilly winds and possibly hail. If you have access to a green house/conservatory its better to harden off the plants before planting out , which means to gradually acclimatise them to the real weather outside. If you haven't anywhere under glass to do this you can put the bedding outside and place a cloche over the plants,  lifting off on good weather days and covering on nights when frost threatens.

If none of this appeals wait until the end of May/June before buying plants and hope for a reasonable spell when planting out. Its important when you do plant to water both to give the plants a drink, but also to settle the soil down around the plant. For more tips on bedding plant care look at the Sunday Gardener's Calender for April. Any questions about bedding plants or for gardening advice e mail the Sunday Gardener.

What to plant now is not quite straight forward as the weather is, again, fickle. The Sunday Gardener's Calendar for April  is full of ideas but they are tempered by the weather. Usually potatoes, especially earlies are planted in March and most of the planting is done by now. This year the weather has not been suitable and all the potatoes got planted together just recently. Calendars and planting charts are only ever a guide. The sweet peas germinated earlier in the year are bursting out of their pots as they have had the benefit of being grown under glass and are ready go to out. Sweet peas are hardy annuals, which means they will take the cold, as long as they are hardened off fully before planting out. Sweet peas are one plant you should not worry about planting out now.

What to plant when also depends on where you garden and the situation and shelter in your plot; there are no hard and fast rules. Well, perhaps only that no bedding plants should be out until all risks of frost  has passed. Garden centres are full of summer bedding, much is grown in perfect conditions and almost in flower; don't be fooled. Bedding comes after frost so that can be late May if you are further north, could be April if you are in a city centres such as London.

The books always say you can cover with fleece or cloche, I usually forget so its best not to plant out until sure of the conditions. Some veg are hardy, Broad beans, potatoes whilst the growth is below the soil, onions, and garlic, but others french beans, courgettes, squashes, and tomatoes all tender. Its tempting when the weather has picked and the garden centres are full to think about planting out. If you have space under glass its worth buying the plants and growing on, if not wait until May.

As always with gardening and the weather, you cannot be sure, the image below shows newly planted bedding plants with a good covering of hail and that was taken on the 1st of June during one of our better Summers. This year the weather has already been a challenge, all the vegetable growing is behind by several weeks and the growth in the garden is slow and we are still waiting for the burst of green which really is spring.  Gardening is about getting close to nature and shedoesn't do things by a book.

In early spring  particularly around Easter there are some lovely Primroses for sale on line and in the garden centres. Primulas, (Primrose) are part of a very large group of 400 species and of all types and colours.  It's tempting to see them as spring bedding and dispose of them when early summer comes along, but some are perennial. In the group Primrose-Polyanthus Primulas, which are winter/ spring flowering, some are evergreen, some biennials and others are perennials which will flower every year.  Rather than put them on the compost heap come the end of May, take a chance and plant them out and you may well find they die back a bit and do nothing much, but then come next spring they will come into flower, and if dead headed will keep on flowering. When emptying the spring tubs it's worth salvaging the best and planting them up. The images below show: on the left the primroses as bedding bought from the garden centre  just this year, which have survived the awful snow and frost and don't look too bad. The next two images are Primroses from last year, planted into the garden into a slightly shady border near a pond, and given the awful winter they too are looking reasonable. If Primroses are planted in the garden all year they will tend to flower later than those bought in garden centres, especially in a really bad year such as this, but they have come back. The Primroses illustrated on the left in the container will be planted at the end of May,  in the garden same spot as the others, as I feel Primroses look at their best grouped together. It's always worth a try rather than throwing them away and a nice surprise next spring when you spot them  flowering again, for free.

There really are many types of Primulas including candelabra species which are taller and many Primulas are strong coloured, long flowering and are great planted out in the borders and definately not just for Easter.

I find buying and sowing seeds irresistible and now the weather is a little warmer, the seed trays are everywhere. Having spent last weekend sowing vegetables and herbs,  I've been at the flower seeds. Many perennial flowers are really easy to germinate and will flower the same year, Delphiniums are just such flowers and I love the tall blue spires even if they are hard work. I've also sown Ipomoea (Morning glory) Heavenly blue and Candy pink; it's a tender annual, and a beautiful climber but it  likes a warm summer so if this year is no better than last, they will not reach any sort of glory.

A tray of  Nasturtiums, why not, so lovely trailing over or climbing up a wall.  The bedding Nasturtiums  we grow for the summer are part of the Tropaeolum genus and are annuals, but there is a lovely herbaceous perennial variety called  Tropaeolum speciosum (Flame creeper) which although it can be tricky to get established,  once going, its no trouble at all and no maintenance; follow the link for more info.  Penstemon  are easy from seed and good for filling in the borders and a tray of sunflowers for the birds, a low growing variety up to 1.5 metres which I am looking to plant alongside the wild flower patch. 

Gardening is very individual just like your own home. Some gardeners reading this maybe think hey I might try  one of these, others may shudder in horror at the plant choice. If you are seeding, use fine compost, tap it down and spray so moist not wet and check on the seed packet the depth for the seed and whether or not to exclude light. Importantly, the pot or tray must be covered to maintain a warm moist atmosphere conducive to germination (for most seeds ) use clear lids, cling film, poly bags anything to keep covered until germination and then start to let the air in.