In 2023, the first year that we were living here, I noticed some sweet peas growing through a front fence as we were walking. Once the flowers were finished and the seed pods fully dried, I picked about 3 or 4. Each year since then I have saved the seeds and replanted them and am blessed with a bumper crop of long-lasting flowers.

The spring was particularly cool this year so the flowers lasted until early December when we had our first real burst of hot weather. The pods were not completely dried by the time we headed overseas in mid-December so I asked the housesitters if they would mind picking the pods once they were dry.

5 weeks later I came home – not only to dried pods but a 1kg bucket FULL of sweet pea seeds. All shelled and carefully saved. Not only had they done that but on top of the bucket was a delightful hand-drawn illustration.

I scanned and cropped the image as I wanted to use it on packets of seeds for other people. There was no way I was going to be able to use 1kg of seeds.

This is a pile of scrap paper from old diaries (2013-2015) that I have been slowly using but I honestly have far more scrap paper and notebooks than I will ever use so I decided to use some to make seed packets. They are A5 size.

I printed the image I had created and then folded the papers to make a small seed packets ready to fill.

How many seeds? I counted out 180 seeds which filled the tablespoon measuring spoon (15ml) so I decided that a tablespoon full of seeds would go in each packet.

Once the seeds were added, I folded the top over and secured it with a piece of sticky tape. I ended up with 46 packets of seeds as well as enough left over for my own garden.

I am planning on selling them for $1/packet at the upcoming garage sale.

It may seem flippant to be writing about seeds and flowers while the world teeters on the brink of a global war. There is not a lot that I can do personally about the escalating conflict, however, no matter what happens around us the plants will keep growing and producing food and flowers in abundance which we can share without being beholden to tariffs, oil or any other commodity.