Bearing in mind I am in the far South West of Cornwall and your ideal sowing time might be different to mine . For me , today is the day I'm sowing my Sweet Peas .
I have sown them as late as the end of November and I prefer to sow mine in the Autumn rather than the Spring. I find that they grow much stronger when sown now .
I bought two lovely generous packets of seeds from Premier Seeds Direct . Sweet Pea "Royal Family" . A mixture of red ,white and blue .
I pulled out all of the Black Eye Suzies and replaced the canes with some taller ones .
Scattered the seeds over the surface .
The surface is quite a bit lower than the top of the pot , which I do to give the young tender shoots a bit of shelter from the severe gales that we frequently get here .
This picture shows that more clearly and I have added a nice thick layer of multi-purpose compost over the top .... and watered them in really well . A whole watering-can full .
It's not so much the cold that would harm them so much as the risk of the young tender shoots snapping off in the wind . So I have tied on a sheet of garden fleece .
And I tie it on really good and strong .
I can't stand this string . I find it very slippery to tie . It'll have to do for now , couldn't find the good stuff . I will keep checking on this every now and then to make sure it doesn't start working it's way undone .
That's that job done .
From the upstairs window I notice the tarpaulin is blowing away ! Need to weight it down with something . The idea is it will catch all the leaves as they fall off the Acer , otherwise I find it difficult to sweep them off of the gravel . Can't afford a leaf blower .
Now this was a nice little haul for a fiver , that I found in Tescos , including a huge bag of Hyacinths .
All sorts of beautiful bulbs ! Very happy me ! Something to look forward to in the Spring .
I decided to put them all into this barrel . I left the Dahlias in this year .
Now then , the thing about buying bulbs in boxes from the supermarket , is that I am always thrilled to bits and excited when I first buy them and then if I am not careful I forget about them and they remain on the kitchen shelf , forgotten about and shrivelling until January . I think it is about this time we all start thinking about Christmas and so many other things to be doing and lots of other procrastinating excuses etc etc .
So I got to it ! Ripped open all the boxes and chucked them in ! I did bury them a bit deeper than this I promise .
I might add a layer of woodchips to keep them cosy .
The Roses above are still giving lots of cheerfulness .
I have the tap wrapped already . I still need to put away the hose . A job for another day .
So when do you sow your Sweet Peas ? Autumn or Spring ? Or maybe both ?
🌿💐🌿 🕷️
