Monty Don at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (in 2023) (Image: Getty Images)
Monty Don has urged gardeners to plant one flower with “the best scent” before April ends. The plant, a traditional English cottage garden favourite, is easy to grow even in smaller outdoor spaces – and you’ll be rewarded with an abundance of colourful blooms as early as June.
The popular sweet pea plant is a British staple in gardens, with huge value as a cut flower due to the strong scent and vibrant shades. In cooler climates, the seeds can be started off indoors in trays, but Monty has warned that if you don’t start your sweet peas by the second weekend in April, then it’s “almost not worth it”. And, when the first leaves start to come through on sweet peas, there’s also an imperative tip to follow to ensure heaps more flower heads in summertime.
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Speaking on the Gardeners’ World podcast, Monty detailed his sweetpea routine: “The sweet pea regime, we grow a lot of them.
“We grow a lot of them because I think they’re beautiful, they make one of the best cut flowers you can have.”
Monty also mentioned that he has a “bad sense of smell” in the podcast, yet said he “loves the fragrance” of sweet peas, he added that these flowers give gardeners “one of the best scents” in the garden.
However, Monty also advised sowing them by the second week of April, adding that it’s “almost not worth it” if you leave this task any later.
So if you’re looking for some colour and fragrance in your garden or patio space, now is the crucial time to plant sweet pea seeds – and flowers will start to appear in June through till August.
Purple sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) on garden canes (Image: Getty Images)
There are a few other tips to note if you are planting this pretty and colourful fragrant flower, which come in an abundance of varieties such as the traditional Painted Lady kind with a bi-colour bloom.
In the Gardeners’ World podcast, Monty said: “The secret of sweet peas is to keep the flowering period going as long as possible and that starts from sowing. I sow in at least two if not three batches.”
Monty also expresses the importance of each seed having enough space to grow in the pot, with a maximum of three seeds in a three-inch pot to start off the seedlings.
He also explained that the sweet pea plant prefers “rich, moisture-retentive soil” and that each plant will need a support frame as it grows and climbs.
In a previous Gardener’s World video Monty advises planting sweet peas deeply in moisture-rich soil with support (such as a trellis) at the ready for when they spring through.
Pink Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) known as ‘Miss Wilmott’ (Image: Getty Images)
In this video, he said it’s best to plant “two or three” seeds in each pot, followed by “planting them out” when the seedlings come through – and he also explained that you can also buy established seedling plants from garden centres if you’ve missed the crucial seed planting time.
However, if you purchase sweet peas and have “12 in a pot” you’ll need to “break them up”, Monty said, to encourage “strong plants” that will reward you with “lots of flowers” later.
Other tips from Monty include giving them a “good watering in” along with pinching off the first sets of leaves that come through when the plant is about 10cm tall. This pinching out will also encourage many more fragrant flowers later in the year.
Monty will return to TV screens with more gardening tips this coming Friday, April 17 at 8pm on BBC Two when the next episode of Gardeners’ World airs.
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