How to sow Sweet Peas and Flanders poppies this autumn

Flowers to Sow This Month

April is the perfect month to sow Alyssum, Aquilegia, Bellis, Calendula, Delphiniums, Foxgloves, Hollyhocks, Lobelia, Nigella, Pansies, Iceland Poppies, Snapdragons and Viola. And don't forget Wildflower mixes, they're a great choice if you have some space that needs freshening up. Have a browse of the Yates Flower seed selection for inspiration!

Sweet Pea Season

Sweet peas are delightful and deservedly popular plants, that combine delicate, pretty flowers with a beautiful fragrance. St Patrick’s Day (March 17th) has been the traditional day to sow sweet peas, but it’s often better to wait for cooler conditions in April to sow them. In warmer areas, you can still sow sweet peas during May.

There are all sorts of gorgeous sweet pea varieties available, whether you want to cover a fence with stunning colour, have a sweet pea teepee in a garden bed, or fill up a hanging basket on a sunny balcony.

Here are a few of the most popular larger sweet pea varieties:

Yates Sweet Pea 'Old Fashioned’ is a traditional favourite with large, ruffled and heavily perfumed blooms that flower well into spring.
Yates Sweet Pea 'Blue Reflections’ has beautiful blue, mauve and white flowers.
Yates Sweet Pea 'Pink Diana' has large fragrant pink blooms with long stems for cutting.

Follow these easy steps to create a beautiful sweet pea display:

Step 1: Sow seed around 25 mm deep into a garden bed or pot, firm down and water in well. If your soil is acidic (has a low pH) also apply some Yates Hydrangea Pinking Liquid Lime Dolomite. This will help to raise the soil pH (make it more alkaline), which sweet peas prefer.

Step 2: Only water again sparingly until seedlings emerge in around 2 weeks’ time. Over-moist soil can lead to the seeds rotting. Protect from slugs and snails with Yates Blitzem Slug Snail Pellets

Step 3: Once the seedlings are around 5 cm tall, start feeding them each week with Yates Thrive Roses Flowers Liquid Plant Food. This fast-acting complete fertiliser provides nitrogen for healthy leaf growth, phosphorus for strong root development and potassium for lots of lovely sweet pea flowers.

Step 4: Tall varieties will need to be grown on a frame, trellis or tepee. Young seedlings may need to be supported with small twigs or bamboo skewers to guide them until they can reach their trellis.

Step 5: Sweet peas take around 12-14 weeks to flower. Don’t forget to cut handfuls of deliciously scented flowers for a vase. Dead head frequently to prolong flowering.

Time to sow Flanders Poppies

Flanders poppies have beautiful rich, red papery blooms, that inspired the well-known WW1 poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Lt. Col. John McCrae. Used ever since as the flower of remembrance for war dead, and as the iconic emblem of ANZAC Day in NZ and Australia.

ANZAC Day, being in April, is a nice prompt to sow Flanders Poppies, which need to be sown during autumn. Poppies make an exquisite massed display, and will begin flowering around 20 weeks after sowing.

Here are some tips to help create a patch of gorgeous poppies:

In a sunny location out in the garden, enrich the soil with some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food. It’s a rich source of organic matter that will help improve the structure of the soil, encourage earthworms and beneficial microorganisms and provide the establishing seedlings with gentle, slow release organic nutrients to promote good early growth.
Scatter seed direct into the garden where the poppies are to grow, as they don’t transplant well. Cover lightly with some Yates Black Magic Seed Raising Mix so the seeds are only around 3 mm deep.
Water the area gently after sowing and keep the soil moist as the seedlings establish. It will take 10 – 14 days for the seedling to pop up.
Once the seedlings are a few weeks old, you can start to feed them each week with a high potassium plant food such as Yates Thrive Flower Fruit Soluble Fertiliser, which encourages healthy growth and helps promote lots of flowers.
To help create bushier, stronger poppies, pinch out early buds.

Potted poppies: Yates Flanders Red Poppy can also be sown into pots filled with a quality potting mix such as Yates Premium Potting Mix.

Violas and Pansies

Violas (Viola cornuta) are sometimes considered the 'little sister' to pansies. Their bright little blooms or ‘faces’ jump out at you and provide abundant colour and character to your winter and spring garden. They come in gorgeous colours and are an old-fashioned favourite for good reason.

If you like cool tones, Viola 'Sorbet Violet Face' which produces masses of charming little flowers, with deep purple petals in contrast with crisp white faces, sketched with darkest purple. Or, try Viola 'Sorbet Marina' for an elegant statement, with it's delicate, graceful periwinkle-blue flowers. Both are unique and high-performing violas that look stunning in garden beds, pots or hanging baskets. And the flowers are edible, so you can add their gorgeous colour to your dishes for a bit of extra flair.

The traditional name for the original-type pansies was 'heartsease'. They certainly lift your spirits when they bloom in the bleakest part of the year! In the Victorian 'language of flowers' pansies signified thoughtfulness and compassion. Pansies are time-honoured favourites for winter or early spring colour. It’s not surprising – they’re cold tolerant, they flower for months and they come in an amazing range of colours. One of our favourites is Pansy Imperial Antique, which has a beautiful mix of pastel colour tones. Or, try Pansy 'Purple Lace', a rich and unique coloured pansy, royally robed in deep purple velvet, trimmed with a fine silver lace edge for contrast. For a more cheerful blend of bold, bright colours, try Pansy 'Giant Supreme'.

Pansies are best sown into pots or trays of Yates Black Magic Seed Raising Mix and transplanted carefully once the seedlings are big enough.