How To Sow Sweet Peas In Spring

Grow Sweet peas and fill the house with scent all summer

Sweet peas are one of those flowers that epitomise the English Country Garden and are unbeatable for filling the house with scent. As long as you keep on picking they will keep on flowering until late summer. They are often sown in winter to give them a head start but they will still give you plenty of blooms if you sow them in spring. If you have a greenhouse or even a warm sunny windowsill they will get off to a quicker start, but they can be sown directly into the ground when the soil has warmed up a little.

The variety we have chosen is an ‘Old Fashioned Scented Mix’ a variety with small flowers and good scent.

You will need:

• 10cm (4”) pots
• seed compost
• seed
• something which holds water to stand the tray or pots in
• labels

Fill the pots with compost, tap the trays on the bench to level the compost.

Make  4 holes about ½” deep around the outside of the pot, either with your finger or a dibber, pop one seed into each hole.

Cover with compost and label.

Stand the tray in water for 15 - 20 minutes until damp and place on a sunny windowsill or in the greenhouse.

Keep just damp.

There is no need to prick them out into larger pots, they will go straight into the ground when they are large enough.