Phacelia Tanacetifolia seeds 0,5kg

01 · HOW IT IS SOWN

Broadcast, covered and kept moist

Three conditions, and all three matter. Direct: broadcast onto a loose seedbed, with no seed trays. Covered by 1 to 2 cm, because the seed needs darkness to get going — left on the surface it just sits there. And with moisture for the first two weeks: if the soil dries out right after sowing, nothing comes up. Do that and it germinates in one or two weeks.

02 · THE CALENDAR

April to August, flowering in 6-8 weeks

The usual window runs from April to late August, and from sowing to flower takes six to eight weeks; flowering then lasts a good month. That lets you stagger it: sowing every three weeks chains the flowering and covers the summer gap. It can also be sown in autumn, but then the aim is usually green manure rather than flower — and a hard frost will take it out.

03 · WHERE IT TAKES

Free-draining soil, 350 to 900 mm of rain

It is not fussy about soil type — clay, silt, sand or loam all do, with a pH of 5 to 8.5 — but it is fussy about drainage: it will not pull in waterlogged ground. It does best in low areas with 350 to 900 mm of annual rainfall. And as a crop it does more than it looks: it leaves very good plant matter as forage, protects the soil over winter and enriches compost.

04 · WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE HIVE

A top-up, not a harvest

It is one of the plants that offers most nectar and pollen per square metre, which is why it is used to bring hives close to a sown plot during gaps in the flow. That said, let us be clear about scale: half a hectare is support, not a honey flow. And you will see bumblebees as much as honeybees — they like it just as well, and on a small plot it shows.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is sown direct, not in trays, and has to be covered by 1-2 cm. If the soil dries out in the first two weeks it will not germinate: that is the usual reason for «nothing came up».