Sweet Peas

Sweet peas had been made popular by the work of breeder Henry Eckford during the late 19th century, and by 1901 William Unwin was growing several rows of these plants for cutting. One evening he noticed some blooms of ‘Prima Donna’ – a plant bred by Eckford – looked different, with larger, showier, rather frilly petals. He saved the seed and the following year his new selection, named ‘Gladys Unwin’ for his daughter, flowered. It was an immediate hit; everyone wanted to grow this new sweet pea. William went on to breed from his popular new flower, creating a strain of ‘Unwin type’ sweet peas, which were impressively stable in colour and flower shape.

Find out more about Unwins and Sweet Peas here 

I picked up some free Sweet Peas seed from the Unwins stand at the Garden Press Event in February and thought I'm going to have to grow some and see what all the fuss is about. 

In the photo above, what will become the gable end of the Greenhouse Climbing Frame behind the boundary beds is the ideal spot to grow them and let them climb and beautify that face of the structure.

Sweet Peas seeds were soaked over night and then I used a dibber to make hole as regular spacing in the back of the boundary beds in front of the security panels.

Once sown in the holes I filled in the holes and put a layer of Westland Muiti-purpose compost with John Innes over the row of seeds.