How to grow your best blooms

To protect your sweet pea seeds from mice, use physical barriers such as nets or traps near your sowings. Sweet pea seeds have a naturally high germination rate. There’s no need to nick, sand or scratch the surface of the seed. Indeed, by scarifying your seeds you could damage them. There’s also no need to soak your seeds overnight before you sow them. Use only tap water when watering sweet pea seeds or seedlings. Avoid water from water bus, which can contain harmful pathogens that lead to damping off and other diseases. Sweet peas are hardy plants. If you cosset them too much they may lose their resilience and won’t grow as well. October-sown sweet pea seeds are naturally branching, so they won’t need to be pinched out. Deadhead flowers frequently – once a plant begins to produce seed it’ll stop flowering. The more frequently you pick sweet pea flowers, the more blooms your plants will produce. In late summer, sweet peas often go through a lull, when they don’t produce as many flowers. The plants usually pick up again if we have more sunshine and warmer weather. So, don’t remove your plants hastily, as they may have a revival! Plant shorter-stemmed, highly fragrant varieties of sweet pea such as ‘Matucana’ or ‘Cupani’ next to seating areas, so you can enjoy their beautiful fragrance as you sit outside. If you don’t have room for many sweet peas, but don’t want to grow just one colour, look out for seed packs which contain colour blends or mixes, or swap and share seeds with your friends. Dwarf sweet peas, ideal for containers and hanging baskets, are available. Try ‘Pink Cupid’ or multi-coloured ‘Snoopea’ from www.thompson-morgan.com Sweet peas can be sown from October to March, so you have plenty of time to order the best varieties and get going!