I have had a disaster this year with my sweet peas sown last Autumn. They didn’t fare too well in the cold greenhouse. I gave them a long root run but probably didn’t give them consistent watering and TLC. So by spring they were thin specimens with lacy leaves eventhough I had pinched them out. Because they didn’t look too good I didn’t feed them up and cosset them but just plonked them in the ground. Well it serves me right and I have a very poor showing at the moment.

Next year will be different and I have already made plans and placed an order for 36 plants from Unwins ‘Super Fragrant Collection’. which consists of Heathcliff, Bobby’s Girl, Valentine, Southampton, Scartlett, and Lively Lassie. I will take delivery in March or April 2009 of healthy plants grown by a nursery. As I have paid good money for them I will take great care, prepare the ground and look after them. Hopefully we will get the sun to make them excel.

Unwins are Sweet Pea specialists and the plant collections I could have chosen include Showbench, Cut flower, and Mixed unnamed collections. They also do plentys of seed varieties and mixes. So for me next season it is plants over seeds (but may be I will do some seeds as well). I am not yet ready to join the National Sweet Pea society but if I do well with my plants I may well do so