You can grow these strong bushy young plants up twiggy sticks of six feet high or even higher using bamboo canes. The beauty of Sweet Peas is that they provide those wonderful fragrances on warm summer evenings and those sweet bunches of cut flowers to take home.
Terry's Tip: Plant Sweet Peas to attract pollinating insects to the garden and your edible plants and they'll also attract aphids away from those plants. So these sparkling little beauties are a useful asset to any garden!
The sweet garden pea needs to be soaked overnight before planting in a shallow trench. Keep a careful eye out for the actions of mice. These cunning little creatures have a great appetite for these shrivelled up pea seeds.
Terry's Tip: If you have a problem with mice you can sow this crop in rain water guttering in the greenhouse and slide the peas, after they have germinated, straight into the trench. It won't be long before you are popping these plump pods and feasting on their sweet contents before they leave the plot.
Early June is a good time to plant out the members of the Cucurbit family; these are the squashes, courgettes, pumpkins and marrows.
To give you rich pickings of these versatile vegetables they need very rich, moisture retaining ground.
Terry's Tip: Dig a large hole and fill it with a copious amount of compost and well rotted manure. The soil is then put back on top and because you have a surplus it will form a mound. It is the perfect place to plant these vegetables; on top of the mound. That allows free drainage and stops the end of the forming crops from getting end rot!
Start preparing next years compost heap now by collecting all your bulk green waste coming from the plot and kitchen. Layer this green waste about 5 inches deep then cover with straw and horse manure. Build up these alternating layers all summer long and then cover all winter with a black polythene sheet to keep the heat in. When uncovered in the springtime you will find a rich black gold to spread over the plot.
Terry'sTip: For even better compost add pigeon or chicken manure to create heat!