August on the Farm

One of my favourite orders this month asked for “the first tinges of late summer bronze, warm corals, creams and gentle terracotta”, for which I supplied dahlia, rudbeckia, phlox, sweet peas, cosmos and zinnia. For me, this is the best time of year for cut flowers, all the good stuff is growing at the same time with so much colour and texture.

The amount of work to do can be very overwhelming and it can be a tricky balance of continuing to make the most of the current season but also looking ahead to what needs to happen for next year - there is so much to harvest, beds to clear, biennials to plant out, hardy annuals to sow and I’ve just had an email to say the spring-flowering bulbs will soon be on their way! A handful of summer treats to take home at the end of each week and the promise of what’s to come next year, makes the long days and hard work a little easier.

My most important annual crop that I’ll start sowing over the next week are my sweet peas. I always buy seeds from English Sweet Peas, based in Essex, who recently joined forces with pea expert, Roger Parsons. They really know their peas and I highly recommend buying from them - their seeds have excellent germination rates and there’s such a great selection of exhibition standard varieties and more delicate “cottage garden” varieties.

I am completely obsessed with sweet peas so I do find it difficult not to buy everything! When growing for florists the most important characteristic I’m looking for is long, strong stems which are best for arranging with, so I tend to stick with the Spencer varieties. These are known for their very long and sturdy stems, large frilly flowers and a good level of scent, and what’s the point of a sweet pea without scent?

I always have a good range of pale pinks, cream, lilac/blue as these are most popular with florists, especially for weddings.  Some of my most reliable crops for florists are Alison Louise, Bix and Castlewellan but I do really love the slightly more dramatic rippled bi-colour peas, especially Wiltshire Ripple and Suzy Z.

For the earliest flowers next year it’s best to sow in September or October and overwinter your plants in a cool place with good light - a greenhouse or cold frame is perfect. I sow my main crop in early September, overwinter the seedlings in the cool polytunnel and plant into the polytunnel beds in February. These generally start to flower in late May/early June. I do another sowing towards the end of February/start of March, which are planted outside and flower from late summer onwards.

I use a general seed compost mixed with a small amount of vermiculite to encourage good drainage and sow into 12cm deep roottrainers which encourage the seedlings to form healthy, strong roots. The most important thing is that they have plenty of space to grow good roots, so deep pots would also work well. Cover the seeds with a small amount of compost to ensure they have enough moisture to germinate and water in. I don't water again until the seeds have germinated, too much water will cause the seeds to rot. I’ve seen people soaking their seeds or gently rubbing with sand paper to break the seed coat before sowing, I have never done either of these and find my seeds germinate just fine.

You don’t need to pinch out autumn sown seedlings - during the lower light levels of winter they need as much surface area as possible to produce energy, they will grow slowly and branch naturally in the cool temperatures. I do pinch out my second succession of seedlings, sown in February/March, which encourages side shoots to form faster and you’ll get nice bushy plants. Cut off the tip of the plant, just above the top set of leaves, once it has two or three pairs of leaves.

I’ll update you in the spring with how I plant out and maintain the peas for the best flowers.