Sweet peas
If you are new at growing flowers from seed, sweet peas are a good one to start with as the seeds are large easy to manage and germinate easily.
Sweet peas are the queen of the winter and spring garden because of their irresistible fragrance. And nothing says spring like a bunch of bright and cheery sweet peas in a vase, or let your creative juices flow and put them into jars, cups and other interesting containers.
Sow now, so that they come into flower in late winter and early spring, as sweet peas thrive at cooler temperatures.
Climbing varieties are good for growing along wire fences, trellises or obelisks, while bushy varieties do well in containers or in the garden as bedding plants.
Sweet peas need a good depth of fertile soil, so ensure that soil is prepared to a depth of a spade’s blade with lots of good compost. Make sure they get lots of sun, and that they are watered well every few days. Growing too dry, especially during the flowering period, will encourage your sweet peas to produce seed, and they will stop producing flowers.
Sweet pea ‘Mammoth Mix’ is very vigorous, growing up to 120cm, with big flowers and good perfume, and like most flowers the more you pick the more they will produce. As the plants grow they will produce tendrils that will cling to any support. If an existing support is not available use sweet pea net along walls, or create an obelisk shape in containers.
Sweet pea ‘Bijou’ is lower growing than ‘Mammoth’ and is a good alternative for containers. Although the plant does not grow as tall as ‘Mammoth’ the flower stems are still excellent for cutting