This is a good time to sow biennials for flowering next year, and the many garden forms of the native foxglove can be raised this way. Find a spare bit of ground in the vegetable garden and make a seedbed by raking through the soil, firm by treading and rake again. Put a cane at each end of the bed and run a tight line between them. Scratch a shallow drill against the line. Sow the seeds thinly, walking backwards along the drill. Draw some soil over the drill, leave the canes to mark the spot and wait a fortnight.
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Rare species: Meet the young gardeners destined for greatnessSam Finch is the youngest head gardener at the National Trust.
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Fit for a queen: The story of Queen Victoria's state bed at Arundel CastleA state bed commissioned to receive Queen Victoria at Arundel Castle has just undergone a transformative restoration, as Annabel Westman explains. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
