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pansy pattern
pansy

Pansy

Viola cornuta

Low-growing pansies add colour and interest to your garden, and will help attract bees and beneficial pollinators.

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Getting started

  • Put the soil tablet on a saucer and pour 50ml of water over it.
  • Put on gloves and mix the water into the soil with your hands to make a wet mixture. Watch the soil expand.
  • Use most of your soil to fill up the pot to around 2cm below the top.
  • Now place your seed mat on top of the soil (take care not to press down too hard).
  • Now use the rest of your soil mixture to cover the seed mat.
  • Remember to wash your hands when you’re done!

How to keep your Little Garden healthy

  • Place the pot on a clean saucer in a place with enough light, but not directly in the sun.
  • Check the soil in the morning, and before bed. If the soil feels dry and crumbly, pour a small amount of clean water over the surface.
  • Within 2 weeks you should see a little plant appear from the soil. That means the seeds have germinated and will be ready soon to move into a bigger pot or garden.
  • If more than one little plant grows, you can thin your pansy seedling by choosing the strongest-looking one and removing the others.

When your seedling is ready to go in the garden

  • When the pansy is about as tall as your finger (in 3-4 weeks), it’s ready to shift into the garden.
  • Get your pansy used to life outside: you can harden off your pansy seedling by putting it in a warm and sheltered spot for 1-2 hours a day and return inside for the night. Do this for 4-5 days, leaving it outside for a little longer each day before you shift it out into the garden forever.

Planting best practice

  • Pansies like full sun, but don’t like to get too hot: grow them in a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade when the sun is at its hottest.
  • They are not too fussy about soil.
  • They grow very well in pots and hanging baskets.

Look after your plant while it’s growing

  • Plant pansies around your vege patch so the flowers can attract beneficial bugs like ladybirds and hoverflies.

Harvest time

  • The flat open-faced flowers are edible! Toss them in a salad, or brush with egg white and dip in caster sugar to create cupcake decorations.
  • Even if you’re not planning to eat them, you can deadhead your pansies by removing any spent flowers from your plant to stimulate new flower growth.

Watch out

  • Pansies can be infested by aphids. Check for these pests frequently: squash them with your fingers or blast them off with the hose as soon as you notice them. Don’t let these guys get comfy on your plants.
  • You can also grow your Little Garden Purple Tansy nearby, to attract hoverflies whose larvae eat aphids.

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Your questions answered

It says to keep pansy in a cold place. What is an example of a cold place. Would you keep pansy in the fridge?

Your pansy seedling should germinate at this time of the year if you keep it in a place with enough light, but that's no...

Can you plant pansy in a can?

An old tin can can be recycled and used as a pot for your Little Garden pansy. Firstly you need to make sure the can is ...
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