Are you doing your bit to help bees, butterflies and other pollinators? By growing the right wildflower species you’ll ensure your garden is a magnet for insects such as solitary bees, honeybees and hoverflies.
Our March subscriber edition includes a free double-pack of seeds including vibrant sunflower Sunburst Mix and a Pollinator Mix from Mr Fothergill’s. The Pollinator Mix is packed with nectar- and pollen-rich flowers that pollinators will love, including corn marigold, flax and purple viper’s bugloss.
More on growing wildflowers
Find more inspiration on growing plants for pollinators in our collection of features, projects and videos. Plus, save on more seed varieties and a cloche for protecting seedlings, with our subscriber-only offers.
Six Months of Seeds – March extras
Get the best possible results, by the following our simple video guide to sowing the Pollinator Mix seeds, below.
You Will Need
- Pollinator Mix seeds
- Fork
- Watering can with rose attachment
Step 1
Prepare the bed by removing any weeds and pricking the surface with a fork, then raking down the surface until it’s level.
Step 2
Pour a little seed into your hand, then scatter it over the soil surface evenly. If several seeds fall in one spot, flick them apart.
Step 3
Water using a watering can with a rose, so the seeds are not displaced. Label the area, and watch out for slug and snails.
Coming up – more free seeds
April: Tomato and basil
The taste of summer. Packs worth £4.80
- Tomato ‘Red Cherry’ – heavy crops of small fruits with delicious, sweet fruits flavour. Can be grown outside or in an unheated greenhouse
- Basil ‘Lettuce Leaf’ – this unusual basil bears enormous, frilly-edged leaves, which have a sweet aromatic flavour you can enjoy all summer long
May: Cosmos and carrot
A couple of classics in this double pack worth £5
- Cosmos ‘Purity’ – this much-loved favourite will give you a dazzling display of large white flowers right through summer. Also great for cut flowers
- Carrot ‘Royal Chantenay 3’ – sow direct in the ground, or in containers. Kids will love growing and eating this fast-growing variety and the small, sweet roots are delicious cooked whole
June: Zinnia and cornflower
Get speedy results with this colourful couple, worth £4.80
- Zinnia ‘Early Wonder’ – large dahlia-like blooms in a mix of showy, vibrant colours
- Cornflower ‘Blue Ball’ – easy to grow, with masses of bee-friendly blooms, cornflowers are the perfect cottage garden flower