Tips For Growing Sweet Peas
Sowing Sweet peas.
- The best results from sweet peas come from seedlings sown in October under a cold frame. You can also sow in early spring; however, these will flower later and will be more susceptible to mildew later in the season.
- To help germination you can chip away at the hard outer skin of sweet pea seed. However, this is not necessary.
- It is important to avoid seeds getting waterlogged as they are prone to rotting.
Sweet Pea Tubes.
The roots of sweet peas grow deep, therefore, when sowing use deep pots (they don’t need to be wide)
Hardening Off.
Sweet Peas are hardy, and can survive frosts; however, if grown in a cold frame they need to be hardened off before planting out. Sweet peas can also be sown directly
Planting out.
When planting out, it doesn’t matter so much if the soil around the roots comes away. The important thing is to water them in well.
Feeding Sweet Peas.
Sweet Peas like a rich well fertilised soil. During flowering time, the addition of tomato food, will help prolong the blooms.
Pinching Out Sweet Peas.
A useful tip for growing sweet peas, is to pinch out the first shoot. This is because sweet peas flower from additional shoots. To get the strongest sweet pea plants, it is important to concentrate all the energy’s on a single shoot.
Layering Sweet Peas.
If you are growing sweet peas for show. Plant them out in rows of 10-12 with stout canes. When the one single shoot has grown higher than the cane, you can untie them and allow them to spread out on the soil before allowing to grow up another cane, this means they can grow much taller than the canes but still be supported.
Picking Flowers.
Once a sweet pea starts to flower, it is important to pick the flowers before they start to set seed. Once they set seed they will tend to stop flowering. At least there will be no difficulty in using the sweet pea flowers.
Water Well and Mulch.
Sweet Peas benefit from being well watered and mulch. As with many other plants, it is best to give a good soaking every now and then rather than feeble daily watering.
- Sweet Pea seeds at T&M
- Growing Sweet peas at RHS
- Top 10 Varieties of Sweet Peas
A Gardening Carnival - May 28, 2008 said,
May 28, 2008 @ 11:13 am
[...] presents Tips For Growing Sweet Peas posted at The Compost Heap, saying, “Some practical tips to help grow sweet peas, one of the [...]
jane said,
March 16, 2009 @ 11:04 am
i am a beginer and last year bought a pack of swet peas collected the seed and have set them of but some have come through and they are not sweet peas but some are there is more not than is
please can you tell me why
admin said,
March 18, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
The hard round seeds need to be able to take in moisture or they will germinate erratically.
Common Garden Problems | Gardeners Tips said,
June 18, 2010 @ 10:17 am
[...] to be hard work and unsightly, make use of natural pea sticks where appropriate. For plants like Sweet peas and tomatoes staking and tying in should be seen as indispensable to the growing [...]
Miranda said,
July 6, 2010 @ 10:12 am
I am growing sweet peas for showing at a particular flower show in early August. A judge told me to prevent them flowering until a certain amount of time before the show … but I now can’t remember what that certain amount of time is! Can anyone help?
admin said,
July 8, 2010 @ 12:24 am
I would wait until the plants were 4 feet high before allowing them to flower for the first time.