Some of the most rewarding annual plants to grow in a garden are sweet peas – and now is the ideal time to plant them! Sweet peas are excellent performers in Scotland and with a little early preparation will produce great results in the summer months. They grow successfully, produce masses of fragrant flowers which are great for picking and give a real splash of colour in your garden.

• If you have not already started to grow sweet peas from seed, there is still time to do so – however it is best to grow them in root trainers as it allows good root depth. You can start sweet pea seeds in cold frames or unheated green houses and the seeds should start to shoot through within about 10 days of planting.

• If you don’t want to grow from seed, most garden centres will now have a good selection of seedling plants available. There are a huge array of varieties and collections of sweet peas available, from pastel colours through to strong and dark selections – be sure to look for scented varieties!

• Although there is still a risk of frost, sweet peas are pretty hardy and will tolerate a few degrees of frost – if frost is forecast put some fleece over them to protect them from burning in the morning sun.

• When planting sweet peas in either the garden or containers make sure the soil is rich by adding some farmyard manure – and for best results feed fortnightly with a high potash fertiliser such as Tomorite.

PLANT OF THE WEEK:

FLOWERING CURRANT – RIBES SANGUINEUM ‘PULBOROUGH SCARLET’

A great traditional garden plant for early spring flowering is ribes ‘Pulborough Scarlet’. This is a variety of flowering currant, so has the same distinctive scent as blackcurrants or red currants.

Ribes ‘Pulborough Scarlet’ is a deciduous ornamental shrub which has clusters of dark red flowers in April. It is fully hardy and will grow to 2.5m in height over 10 years making it a great spring flowering plant for a border!