Monty Don says now is the moment to plant sweet peas outside – and shares how to set them up for a summer of tumbling, fragrant blooms

White sweet peas flowering on wooden obelisk in garden.

There’s something about sweet peas that feels like the true start of the gardening year. And according to gardening expert Monty Don, April is the best time to get them in the ground.

If you’ve been nurturing sweet pea seedlings indoors or picking up young plants from the garden centre, April is when things start to shift. The soil is warming, the light is returning, and suddenly it feels possible to imagine a garden filled with colour and fragrance once again. And sweet peas, with their climbing habit and irresistible cottage garden charm, are one of the easiest ways to bring that vision to life.