Growing Plug Plants with Dobies of Devon *

There are few things I love more about this time of year than all the flowers, they are so beautiful and make me smile every single time! I grew up with a gardening mad Mum, she was always planting something or dragging us around a garden center, and while I adore spending time in the garden I generally have no idea what I am doing! So I wanted a quick, easy way of injecting some floral fabulousness into pots at the front of my house, as I generally neglect this area and focus on the back garden instead! Luckily for me, Dobies of Devon have a great selection of plug plants just waiting to be given a new home!

Above you can see how the plants arrive at your door! In a cardboard box and each tray is surrounded by some protective cardboard which also has a label so you know which plant is which (very helpful, trust me).

Here are the plants themselves (clockwise from top left): Petunias, Cineraria, Geraniums, Impatiens. As they have been travelling in a box some are a bit squished, but they soon livened up with some water and sunshine!

Having never grown plug plants before it was a bit of trial & error for me, with a big dose of hoping nothing went wrong! I took them out of their box as soon as they arrived and stood them outside in the sunshine & gave them some water. I then left them there for 2-3 days so that they could acclimatize themselves before I potted them up! I have no idea if that's the way you're supposed to do it, but it worked for me! 

After a few days outside when it was time to start planting a couple more flowers had opened up which was lovely to see! The first pot I chose was the one you can see above, in spring it contains daffodil bulbs but the rest of the year it's empty which I really wanted to change! As this pot already have plenty of compost in it was just a case of making sure the soil was nice and moist and then arranging the plants on top of the surface so I knew where I wanted them to go!  Then just make a hole, pop the plant out of it's tray, place in the hole, and fill with compost. Repeat until you're pleased with result. Done. Simple as that!! In the pot above you can see geraniums and petunias, and aren't they pretty?! 

The second container that I decided to brighten up already had an inhabitant in the shape of this little conifer! But it looked pretty lonely, so I thought it might like some flowery friends! In this pot the procedure was exactly the same as above, but as you can see I manged to squeeze in the Cineraria and Impatiens! 

Overall, I am so impressed with the quality of these plants. They arrived quickly and in great condition, they burst into life within a couple of days and were so easy to plant & maintain! They've really brightened up the front of my home, and I would definitely recommend you try them out, especially if you're not particularly green-fingered!

Before I sign off, here's some more photos for you!

Haven't they brightened up the place!?! You can get your own plug plants from Dobies of Devon!

Let me know what you think of my lovely flowers and keep your eyes out for my Front Door Makeover post where you'll see them again! 

Stay safe, x