I love growing sweet peas and now is a good time to start seeding them. Sweet peas germinate very easily from seed and if you haven't tried, why not give it a go, they are easy and rewarding to germinate.

Growing from seed is cheaper, and you can pick the types and colours which you most like to grow. I love to pick pale pastels as illustrated left, but also strong blues and pinks. I select for scent and colour and this year I have selected several varieties described as "highly scented" to see how well they perform.

To germinate from seed you do not even need heat, but you do need root trainers or loo roll holders to seed into. Sweet peas like a long root run and they form great sturdy roots which, by the time you are ready to plant out, will be pushing out of the containers. Sweet peas are hardy, but they do best if sheltered from frosts so if after you have planted them out a cold spell ensues, cover them with a fleece or cloche to give a little protection.

This year I have chosen my varieties of sweet peas primarily for their scent.It will be interesting to see  how they compare.

There is no need to soak or nick the sweet peas before you germinate, just place at the top of the root trainer and sprinkle with compost which is a little damp. Stand back and watch it happen.

Once the seedlings have two pairs of leaves, pinch out the growing point this makes the plants produce more stems, and later on this will mean more flowers. There are lots of tips on the Sweet Pea pages including how to plant out video, and how to get straight stems which look so good as cut flower.

Sweet peas are an easy annual to grow and are the scent of summer.

This time of year is great for planning, looking forward to spring. The lull between Christmas and New Year gives time to look at the seed catalogues, check web sites and think about the veg plot. Often there are some great offers as the various companies scramble to attract our money.

When thinking about what to plant where it is worth remembering the need to rotate crops. To keep pests and diseases away it is best not to plant the same type of veg in the same part of the plot or garden each year; a detailed explanation of crop rotation.

I have also been inspired by some of the beautiful vegetable gardens I have seen in recent years. So much so that growing vegetables has become an art form incorporating mixed planting of different coloured vegetables interspersed with flowers. Adding flowers to the vegetable garden such as Calendula, the Pot Marigold has the added benefit of attracting pollinators,  but happily not attractive to slugs, and Limnanthes douglasii, the poached egg plant is often covered in pollinators. Having these flowers within the veg plot adds bright colour and helps pollination which if it is another poor summer, will help to increase yields. The image below left is of part of the vegetable garden at Ness Botanical which is so colourful.

Thinking about colour I have been drawn to some different variety of veg this year including  'Pea Blauwschokker' a heritage variety from Dobies, part of Rob Smith's heritage vegetable collection and which is described as having purple flowers and dark purple pods which sounds interesting, image below centre. Runner bean 'Sunset' also from Dobies described as having peachy pink flowers instead of the usual red/white. In previous years I have also grown Broad bean 'Crimson' available from Thompson and Morgan and as illustrated below right which has fabulous flowers and really good firm beans.

Advice on growing vegetables

Another favourite is the little gem lettuce 'Red Amaze' which is tasty and pretty. It has all the qualities of a little gem but with attractive red edged outer leaves. It looks really good grown with all green lettuces alternating red/green.

I also liked Thompson and Morgan French Dwarf bean collection  because it was offering three varieties to harvest across the summer, and competitively priced. Last year, especially with not the best of summers, the yield from dwarf beans was better than from the taller varieties which seems to me a reason to grow them again.

This year I am opting for tomato plants as well as germinating some from seed, mainly to see if buying a ready grafted plant would fruit earlier to give a longer cropping season. I thought the idea on Dobies web site of early delivery from April onwards was a good idea so will see how these plug plants fare. Fortunately I have several varieties of tomato seeds left over from last season to germinate this year.

I also bought a host of other seeds and veg; salad crops, onions, courgettes, cucumbers, garlic, carrots the list goes on.If you are busy planning your veg plot, its good to check first what's left of from last year's seed selection as many seeds are viable for several years. Given that seed is quite expensive it is worth checking what's in hand already. I have a lot of herbs seeds, Pea, tomato and lettuce seeds left over from last year. Seed keeps well in a sealed metal tin, better than in plastic as drier and I keep it in the fridge where it is cool and dark. The most important thing is to keep seeds dry, if they get damp there is a real risk they will rot.  Many seeds will keep for years. I always try old seed first and it is generally successful, although for carrot and parsley it is best to buy fresh.  

Just a few weeks and it will be time to think about germinating the early seeds under cover. One of the best things about gardening is always looking forward.

Tips on seeding vegetables  and video advice on how to sow and germinate from seed.

I always used to think that bothering to clear snow of shrubs and bushes was for the pedentic gardener. I found out to my cost the amount of damage snow can do.

Snow is very heavy, it forces the branches down and this can make them snap. When it is very cold, the snow pushes the branches downwards, and then the snow freezes and this holds the branches in place, placing the shrub under tension and strain.

It seems hard to imagine,  but the sheer weight of snow snapped the branches of an Elaeagnus, some of them were around 8cms/3" wide and it hardly seems credible that snow could damage such strong branches. The snow gets into the centre of the shrub, forces the branches out and they snap under the strain.

The first image is a bamboo which you can see is completely buried under the snow and it's easy to see if it is left like that for several days how the stems will be damaged. The second image shows the bamboo with the snow cleared off and it is standing upright again.

Evergreen shrubs are most at risk because of their leaf canopy over winter. So it isn't just work for work's sake, if there is a heavy snow fall and no immediate thaw, especially if it freezes, it is best to clear the snow off shrubs to avoid them becoming damaged.

Video about snow damage

More winter gardening tips.

One of the reasons I am not a fan of too tidy borders is to make room for garden wildlife, and at this time of year for Hedgehogs.

Hedgehogs hibernate from November to March and needs somewhere safe and warm. Ideal spots are piles which they can get into to hibernate such as logs, leaves or compost.

Hedgehogs are a gardeners friend as their natural diet includes slugs. With all the slugs in my garden I would have expected to be overrun with Hedgehogs, sadly not. More with Badgers, Foxes and Moles.  

Since I would like to encourage the Hedgehogs to make their  hibernation nest in the garden, in the weedy, wilder bits of the garden I have left  heaps of leaves and compost. The Hedgehog is a woodland creature, which adapts well to our garden habitat especially if it has trees and shrubs. There are specially made Hedgehog houses retailed now, but frankly the compost heap is better, and will also provide a source of food.

It is said that an adult Hedgehog can eat 200gms of insects a night which should include some slugs; well worth enticing them into the garden.