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November: Sweet Peas

I make no apology for writing about sweetpeas, as I grow mine in the vegetable garden, solely for picking for the house, and now is the time to sow them for the earliest crop. They like a long root run, so loo rolls work well, or a few seeds to a deep pot. Soak the seeds in a bowl of water for an hour or so, then simply push one seed per loo roll about 1cm deep into moist compost and cover over. Leave in a cold greenhouse, or cold frame, or even on a windowsill in a cool room in the house, and they should germinate in a month. Sweetpeas are surprisingly hardy, and happily survived in my unheated polytunnel through the freezing temperatures of last winter, although I have better success with the darker flowered varieties such as 'Beaujolais', and 'Winston Churchill'. When the seedlings have about 6 sets of leaves, pinch out the growing tip at the top, which will encourage more bushy growth.

They like a rich soil, so dig a trench now and fill it with something enriching, like compost (even windfall apples and torn up wetted newspaper will help), or pile on your compost and let the worms do the job for you over the winter. Then from early March you can plant out the peas carefully, in the loo roll – they do not like their roots to be disturbed, which is why loo rolls work - water in well, and keep watered if necessary for the next few weeks while they get established. They will need support, of course, but with a little encouragement, will twine themselves around the support so you should only need to tie in the odd sprig early on. Just let them grow, and when they do flower keep picking, preferably at least every other day, and they will keep flowering until the beginning of September. For later flowers sow a second crop in February or early March, before the weather starts to warm up.