Monty revisits one of his classic books, Gardening at Longmeadow, in the first of an occasional series.
The sweet violet, Viola odorata, is one of the most quietly modest and yet beautiful of all flowers.
Although perfectly suited to any garden and wonderful in pots on a windowsill or balcony, they are woodland plants and will bring a flavour of this to your garden.
We have them growing here in the Coppice and running under the hawthorn hedges.
Their innocent beauty is a by-product of a remorseless quest for pollination.
In theory, violets are self-fertilising, so any insect activity is a bonus.
In practice, they depend heavily on insect pollination, especially by bees, and the early flowers rarely set seed, although a later flush of autumn flowers set seed easily.
British gardening expert Monty Don (pictured), shared advice for growing violets in an extract from his classic book Gardening At Longmeadow
Pick a little bunch of violets and a room will be infused with their gentle yet persuasive fragrance.
The blooms rise on stalks as fine as those of cress seedlings from heart-shaped, fragrant green leaves that remain in a modest form all winter but are now creating lovely fresh new growth.
The leaves in turn sprout from a surprisingly knobbly stem, which throws out runners, just like strawberry plants, and new plants root along their length.
This means that in the right conditions violets will spread quickly. They can be moved around easily, too.
The best time to do this is immediately after flowering, and a well-established clump should be broken up every few years to encourage it to spread further, faster.
Monty revealed that violets and pansies are close relatives, and he likes to plant the latter in March. Pictured: Pansies look sensational in pots
Your kitchen garden: Chard
No other vegetable gleams like chard. A healthy leaf is as glossy as holly, and the stem so buffed it looks molten.
Rhubarb chard has green leaves and red stalks; ruby chard has both red leaves and stalks; rainbow chard has stems of yellow, orange, pink and red. Once cooked, all taste remarkably similar.
I sow the first batch about now and then a subsequent one in early August that will provide plants to overwinter for the following spring.
Monty revealed he sows a batch of chard now and a subsequent in early August
The seeds can be sown direct but I sow them in plugs or blocks restricted to one seed per unit, growing them on and hardening off before. planting out at 23cm spacing.
They like a really rich, moisture-retentive soil. Being biennials they’ll only go to seed in the first growing season if distressed, so consistency of water supply is as important as quantity. If some do start to bolt I cut the central stem down to the ground and give them a soak.
We shred the green leaves from the stalks and cook and use them exactly like spinach, and the stems are very good cooked separately in water or stock and served either with oil and lemon or a béchamel sauce. The leaves and stalks chopped up together make a very good filling for a pie or flan.
Any group that is apparently healthy but not flowering can also be spurred into blooming by lifting and moving.
Although wild, tough and needing almost no cultivation, violets are prone to attack by red spider mite, which will indicate itself by yellowing leaves.
Poor drainage and heavy soil will exacerbate this situation, as will planting them too close together.
Violets and pansies are close relatives, and I like to grow the latter in terracotta pots, although they can also be planted in any moist, rich soil.
They hate dry conditions but should not be in a bog so, as ever, plenty of compost or leaf mould in the ground is ideal.
Although it is best to plant pansies in autumn, I often leave it until March. Whenever they are planted you should pinch out all flower heads.
This will give the plant a chance to establish roots before putting its energy into the flowers, so you’ll have many more blooms for much longer.
Regular dead-heading will also increase the length of display.
As spring progresses the plants will grow increasingly leggy, and as the supply of flowers diminishes, the entire plant should be cut back to one joint above soil level.
However, many of us treat pansies as annuals and consign them to the compost heap at this stage.
Violets and pansies can be raised from seed sown in June or July, with the young plants placed in position in autumn, or from cuttings taken in late summer.
Cuttings preserve the exact qualities of the parent plant whereas seed will always be an unknown combination of both parents.
Monty advises preparing a mixture of potting compost with an equal volume of grit, when dividing agapanthus (pictured)
How to divide agapanthus
- Agapanthus do best with very good drainage and poor soil, so first prepare a mixture of potting compost with an equal volume of grit.
- The plants have fleshy roots that should be divided when – but not before – they completely fill the container they are in.
- Cut the agapanthus in two with a sharp knife to make two healthy plants that will grow with renewed vigour.
- After repotting – and in the case of agapanthus the container should be quite constricted, even when freshly repotted – give them a good soak.
From Gardening At Longmeadow by Monty Don, BBC Books, £26. © Monty Don 2012. To order a copy for £20.80, p&p free, until 30 April, visit mailshop.co.uk or call 01603 648155.