GROW A SPIRE OF SWEET PEAS
Plant some sweet peas now and your summer will be filled with vases of pretty blooms, and you’ll have plenty left over to gift as posies to friends. A rustic wigwam provides the perfect support and adds delightful cottagecore charm in its own right.
Any sturdy straightish branches you can forage can be used, or check to see if any are available on your local Facebook marketplace. Your poles need to be around 1.8m-2m long, as you’ll be inserting 15cm-30cm into the soil to keep the wigwam stable.
A swag of twiggy stems tied around the poles adds to the visual effect as well as providing your plants with lots to grab onto. It’s easy to create – start with a bunch of flexible twig stems such as birch, willow or dogwood, and bind with wire or twine, adding more stems and continuing to wrap twine around until you’ve formed a long twiggy sausage. No twigs? Make your swag by plaiting together thick twine.
Push the poles into the soil, angling and tying them together at the top where they cross with strong string. Attach your swag to the top and spiral it around the wigwam, securing the end to one of the poles at the base with wire. Use a trowel to dig a hole at the base of each pole, mix some soil improver into the soil and plant one sweet pea in each.
Water well.
Lathyrus ‘Geranium Pink’
TIP If you can’t source any bra nches, then ba mboo ca nes will work too
PAINT A PRETTY SIGN On a dismal rainy day, this easy-make log slice sign will remind you of the garden fun to come. If you don’t have a log that you can saw a slice from, or a local tree surgeon who’ll be happy to give you one, you can buy log slices from most florist suppliers (Wood Slice, £8.99 easyfloristsupplies.co.uk).
Sand down the face you want to write on using fine sandpaper, and wipe away any sawdust. Write your message lightly in pencil, then go over with a paint brush, using any leftover exterior paint that’s suitable for wood, or buy a tester pot.
Leave to dry, then coat all over using a clear outdoor wood varnish so it will last in your garden for years.
WHAT IT COST
✽ Sweet pea plants, £15.99/12 plugs marshallsgarden.com
✽ Soil improver: Westland Bio-Life, £7.99/50L best4hedging.co.uk TOTAL: £23.98
WHAT IT COST
✽ Exterior wood paint: Cuprinol Garden Shades Matt Wood Treatment, £4/125ml wickes.co.uk
✽ Exterior wood varnish: £14/ 750ml wickes.co.uk TOTAL: £18
TIP If your basket doesn’t have a plastic liner, use any plastic bag and pierce a few drainage holes in the base
It’s time to prepare for the moment you’re sitting on the patio in the sunshine and plucking fresh strawberries to pop into glasses of fizz! Growing a few plants in a hanging basket not only looks attractive, but the fruit will b
