Sweet smelling sweet peas

My wife loves to receive flowers. I’m sure many women, and many a man, do too. They brighten up a home, add colour and look pretty. But regularly purchasing flowers is a luxury not everyone can afford. That’s why I’m a big fan of planting your own.

Grow your own cut flowers and you’ve always got fresh blooms on tap. And not much is easier to plant, or looks as good in the garden or a vase, as sweet peas. Even better, purchase the fragrant variety and you’ll have your house smelling sweetly too.

Sweet peas can be grown from seeds. But I prefer to plant seedlings. Getting seeds to flowering stage can be a bit hit and miss. When you purchase Awapuni Nurseries seedlings all the hard work of getting the seeds to germinate and grow into established seedlings has already been taken care of. This means they’re pretty much guaranteed to grow, and they’ll develop faster – resulting in earlier flowers.

You can purchase Awapuni Nurseries sweet pea seedlings from your local supermarket, The Warehouse or Bunnings. Alternatively, head to our online store at www.awapuni.co.nz to and get them delivered direct to your door.

If you’re running a bit short on space, I recommend purchasing the dwarf variety, which is perfect for hanging baskets. They grow to about 30 or 40cm and will cascade nicely down the sides. Otherwise, sweet peas also grow really well in large pots. You’ll just need to tie four or five bamboo stakes into a tee-pee shape to support the plants as they grow.

If you’re growing in the garden, all you need is a sunny, well-drained spot next to a wall or some sort of support structure. Simply add some netting, wire or light wooded frame for the flowers to climb up. Your sweet peas will reach between 120-180cm in height.

Plant the seedlings about 20cm apart from each other. And don’t hold back! The more you plant, the more you’ll have for filling all those vases, empty bottles and jugs in your house with sensational scented cut flowers.

Remember to water, but avoid over-head watering to prevent them getting powdery mildew. And, because they’re annual plants, pick off the flowers once they’re spent, and remove the whole plant when it’s stopped flowering.

You should have an abundance of flowers ready for cutting in around 10 to 12 weeks.

Tod Palenski
Awapuni Nurseries
www.awapuni.co.nz