Sweet pea update - hardening off and neighbourly competition

I was feeling rather smug last week, considering myself to be well ahead of the game.  My first set of sweet peas had survived the great transition to outdoors and a week later all but one are still going strong.  The one that didn't got crushed in the covering up process so I have cut him down to just above the first set of leaves in the hopes that he might sprout again.  Another has got bent but a little wooden splint seems to be keeping him in the game for the moment.  My frost protection method is very home-spun; I just place the pots on a layer of thick bubble wrap to stop the cold permeating in from the bottom, then lay a layer of fleece and bubble wrap over the top.  It may not be elegant but it works.

My second batch of sweet peas had also germinated nicely, with 12 up.  Before these got too carried away with themselves I also put them outside and even spent Saturday constructing a home made cold frame for them.  I feel a cold frame would be the answer to a lot of my needs, but they seem rather pricey, and being fond of saving money where I can I have instead made one from an old shelving unit.  This shelf-thing has had many reincarnations.  In the beginning it was one side of a desk with a set of drawers in my room.  Then when the desk copped it, it just became a little bookshelf.  But now it is surplus to requirements and is laying on bubble wrap on my patio with a fleece and bubble wrap covering over the top.  So basically its just a more structured version of my normal covering up method.

So far, so good.  My stock of plants is coming along nicely, but where to plant them?  Last year I used the large pots of the mother's, but these are all currently full of narcissus waiting to flower and won't be free for at least a month.  So instead I spent the gloriously sunny day (for a change) that was Saturday emptying the largest pot of fuchsias that was waiting to be cleared out.  It was one of my favourite pots, so it was a slightly sad moment as I heaved the whacking great lump of terracotta about, but fresh beginnings are always exciting.

It looks a mess but is, in fact, my cold frame

It was at this point that I noticed my neighbour.  Yes he who likes to torment me!  He was only planting out his sweet pea seedlings into the garden already, and staking them.  And that's when I cancelled the smug parade.  I would have thought he was a bit keen myself, I had considered planting mine out but I thought they would be a nightmare to protect from the frosts.  Because lets face it, its early March, there will still be frosts.  Or at least that's what Im now praying for to kill off his plants.  No that's mean, I should not be competing with some poor 80 year old man who is just enjoying his garden. At least I can hold to that fact that mine will be nicer colours than his because I sowed them myself.  Maybe I am molly cuddling my plants too much, but the frosts can still be quite hard at this time of year.

Anyway I have two more pots of compost in the garage ready for my next batch of sweet pea seeds, waiting because I always forget to soak in advance and I have found it to be a most satisfactory method of coaxing them up.  I have just read the RHS gardening advice page for sweet peas which says don't soak them because they are liable to rot, but I don't additionally water mine and I haven't found this to be a problem.  So I plow on in my quest for sweet pea glory.