Sow your free sweet peas Get a head start on next year’s flowers by overwintering them as seedlings

Get an early crop of these fragrant flowers next summer by sowing your sweet pea seeds now. The seedlings make long roots, which become congested in shallow trays or small pots, so sow in deep containers. Toilet roll tubes are a good option for sowing in spring, but the cardboard can get soggy and become mouldy over winter. Instead, look for deeper pots, which will give sweet peas plenty of room to grow. Fill the pots with multipurpose compost. Sow 4-5 seeds per pot, equally spaced, and push them into the compost to a depth of about 1cm (½in). Cover the seeds with more compost. Water well and place in a greenhouse or cold frame to overwinter, watering whenever the compost becomes dry.