Heaven scent! A sweet summer starts here ...

MANY moons ago, I spent some time in the company of Jamie Oliver, who showed me his recently planted walled kitchen garden. It was the height of summer and sweet peas scrambled up arches, adding colour to the raised beds brimming with veg, herbs and fruit.

I was taken aback when the TV chef plucked a pod from one of his climbers and asked if its seeds were edible. I warned him that sweet pea seeds were toxic and he should stick to enjoying the plants for their brightly coloured, scented blooms.

For a scented summer of your own, now is the time to start sweet peas from seeds. Whether sown in the ground or in containers, seeds will germinate readily, forming straight stems that will eventually measure 5ft to 7ft in height. From June to September, these will carry shoots laden with flowers.

These versatile annuals can be allowed to scramble through shrubs and hedges, or grown against walls, fences, arches and arbours. For a classic cottage-garden look, train them up ornamental obelisks or wigwam-shaped supports.

So, what’s worth growing? ‘Gwendoline’ has frilly, creamy white flowers edged with rich pink, while new for 2021 is ‘Nightingale’, named in honour of the Covid hospitals.

Sweet peas like a warm, sunny and sheltered spot. Sow seeds ½ in deep directly in the ground beneath vertical supports or set in 20in-wide containers filled with peat-free multi-purpose compost – make sure you place a climbing structure in the centre and sow two to three seeds at the base of each upright.

Expect to see shoots appear in two to three weeks. When they’re about 4in high, pinch out growing tips of seedlings to produce stronger, bushier plants. As they establish, plants will happily scale supports, but help them to get going by tying in stems with twine.

Water plants regularly, and once flower buds appear, feed every couple of weeks with a fertiliser that’s high in potash. Deadhead them regularly to keep them floriferous.