Now’s the time to sow seeds for a fragrant display in late winter and spring.
With their multitude of sweetly scented pastel blooms, sweet peas are the ultimate harbinger of spring. Plus they make excellent cut flowers. Just decide whether you want the bush or climbing variety and choose a sunny spot near your patio, entrance or along a pathway where the sight and smell of the flowers can be fully experienced.
When to plant sweet peas
Frost areas: late summer and autumn.
Frost-free areas: autumn and late winter.
Tip: Pick the flowers as they appear. The more you pick, the more flowers they produce.
How to do it
Climbing varieties will need a support. Expert gardener, Celeste Pinkerton of Jo’burg uses a wooden pyramid to support her sweet peas. Follow her step- by-step guide to grow them from seed:
Step 1: Choose your location, taking into account that sweet peas need sun for most of the day. In this garden, a wooden pyramid was placed in the corner of a large bed.
Step 2: Prepare the planting bed a few weeks before sowing. For best results, experts recommend trenching. To do this, dig down to about 40-50cm and remove the topsoil with a spade, putting it to one side.
Step 3: Aerate the subsoil at the bottom of the trench using a spade or fork. Some gardeners 
add shredded newspaper to retain moisture near the roots.
Step 4: Incorporate compost and/or well-rotted manure and superphosphate (a handful per m2) into the topsoil you have set aside.
Step 5: Return the topsoil to the trench. Water well.
Step 6: Soften the outer coat of the seeds to aid germination. You can do this by soaking them in a cup of water overnight, or by putting them in between two wet kitchen towels.
Step 7: Sow your seeds in situ by pushing them into the soil about 2-3cm deep and about 10-15cm apart. Water after sowing and keep the soil moist until they sprout.
Step 8: As soon as the shoots appear, start 
fertilising with a liquid feed such as Seagro every two to three weeks.
Step 9: When the shoots are about 10-15cm high, pinch off the growing tips to encourage more shoots.
Step 10: When the plants are about 20cm high, usually sometime in July, tie the stems to their support using old stockings. Keep tying as they grow.
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