Last summer's sweet peas were a runaway success. They kept flowering and if I had not needed the space to autumn plant garlic and onions, they would probably still be blooming.
In anticipation of a hard winter (which of course has not materialised so far), I have not done any autumn sowing.
Luckily sweet peas can be sown in Jan/Feb, too, but they need a bit of heat (10C to 15C) to start them off. Perfect for me as I have converted my study into a growing room which is kept at 13C.
We have had some dismal weather this week, lots of wind and rain, so an indoor gardening job was right up my street.
I have selected three varieties for this summer: Old Spice mixed, Black Knight and Mrs Collier. The last variety is new to me, I admired it a lot when visiting Kelmarsh Hall in August last year. I had been looking for a fragrant white or cream coloured sweet pea and think I found it with Mrs C.
Apart from purchasing seeds (already done in autumn) there was no additional cost to me (frugal January): I harvested compost from my new composter, I already possess a fine sieve and my root- trainers are still in good condition.
I replaced our composter last year with a model that it front opening. The are rods in both corners so I can swing the front panel either to the left or right to access the compost. Very impressed with this feature and the quality of the compost.
If you are using your home made compost simply to improve your soil then you can use it straight from the compost bin.
As you see, there are a few larger chunks of veg peel visible please egg shells which seem to take forever to break down. If you want to use your compost to sow seeds it has to be fine, so a sieve is essential.
Mine fits perfectly inside the smaller flexitub.
After a bit of stirring with a trowel or small spade, I get very fine compost, perfect for my sweet pea seeds. The coarse material goes back into the compost bin to enjoy a bit more rotting downtime.
Once sown, I am keeping my seeds indoors at a cool temperature of 10C to 15C. As soon as the first shoots appear it is time to move them to an unheated greenhouse or - in my case - coldframe. If you miss this step, you end up with leggy plants.
Can't wait to see the first shoots emerge!
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