Roll with it: Reduce household waste by sowing sweet peas in the cardboard tubes of loo and kitchen roll. They are deep enough for the plants’ long root systems.
Mice will take advantage of sweet pea seeds sown in a greenhouse or coldframe. You can soak seeds in liquid paraffin first to keep the rodents at bay.
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Get the best from your houseplants, RHS Garden Wisley 13 February
Start another batch of sweet peas now for plenty of delightfully scented flowers this summer
Some people file the seeds to help germination
Time to sow sweet peas
Start a second batch for more plants for longer, says Ruth
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HE sweet peas I sowed back summer I am sowing a second batch. in the autumn are doing well The general advice used to be to in a mini greenhouse, seeing either soak the seeds overnight or out the worst of the winter. roughen their hard shells with a nail I am pinching them out every few file before sowing, but I did neither with weeks to stop them straggling and my autumn sowing and had a good tangling, and encourage them ination rate. grow into strong and bushy Sweet peas have extensive plants with lots of side oot systems and long tap shoots for more flowers. roots, so they need a deep Sweet peas are hardy pot of compost to flourish. annuals so you can, in For the best results, sow theory, sow them straight everal seeds around 1in Rootrainers into the soil in autumn. But by .5cm) deep in a 10in (25cm) are perfect for sitting in cold, wet soil they ru or use Rootrainers. These sweet peas the risk of rotting before they can are deep, narrow modules that are germinate and there is a greater danger opened up at planting time so you can that they will be carried off by hungry remove the rootball and place it straight into the soil. rodents and birds. Once sown, keep the compost damp So starting them undercover is the and place the pot or Rootrainer in a best option, and to have more blooms greenhouse or coldframe. over a longer period of time next
Keeping sweet pea seedlings healthy
If the seedlings are left unattended and somewhere with poor ventilation, they grow straggly and thin and are vulnerable to rotting and fungal problems such as botrytis grey mould.
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To keep the young plants healthy, make sure there is plenty of airflow around them (open the doors of your greenhouse or coldframe on mild days). Keep pinching out the tips to produce lots of side shoots.
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1-2: Heralding Spring: Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS 1-2: Snowdrop Weekend: RHS Garden Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor 1-29: Festival of Snowdrops: East Lambrook Manor Gardens, South Petherton, Somerset, TA13 5HH. ✆ 01460 240 328, eastlambrook.com 3: RHS Members’ Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Harrogate, North Yorks HG3 1QB. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/ gardens/harlow-carr 4: Winter Colour and Scent: RHS Garden Rosemoor 6: Rose Pruning: RHS Garden Rosemoor 7: Cultivating Willow: RHS Garden Harlow Carr 7: RHS Members’ Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr 7: Designing with Plants: RHS Garden Hyde Hall, Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8ET. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/gardens/hyde-hall 8: British Iris Society Early Spring Show: RHS Wisley, Wisley Lane, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB. ✆ 0203 176 5830, rhs.org.uk/ gardens/wisley 8: Designing with Plants: RHS Garden Hyde Hall 9: Lawn Care: RHS Garden Wisley 10: RHS Members’ Gardening Advice: RHS Harlow Carr 13: Success with Houseplants: RHS Garden Wisley ■ Send details and images of events to ruth.hayes@ti-media.com ■ All details are subject to change without our knowledge, so please check that the event is still going ahead before leaving home.
1 FEBRUARY 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING
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