Homes and Gardens / Gardening
Sweet peace
It’s nice to pass the time of day when I am gardening, but only on my terms. I have twice lived in houses with no fence between me and the neighbours
I would step out with a cup of tea and a magazine (this was pre-kids, note) and immediately be engaged in slightly awkward conversation about the weather or the guttering. This is not what we want in our gardens. We may live cheek by jowl in reality, but in a garden we want to be able to at least pretend otherwise.
This is a great time to start a temporary barrier in the form of a sweet pea hedge. The beauty of a sweet pea hedge is that it is almost non-existent on planting, and so doesn’t offend chatty neighbours. Put up a piece of trellis, or string some thin wire between posts. If you can’t do either of these things then make an allotment-style support with bamboo canes: create a tripod of canes at each end of your gap and balance a cane along the top, then tie this to the tops of the tripods. Next push pairs of canes in at intervals of about a foot and tie them into the top cane. Plant your sweet pea plants at the base of each cane.
You can start your own sweet pea plants now from seed, but plants are currently appearing in every garden centre. Just buy a pot of seedlings, tease them apart, plant and water. They will start to snake their way up those poles and by midsummer you will be drinking your cup of tea in leafy, flowery privacy.
is needed now More than ever
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