An Ode to Sweet Peas

Lathyrus odoratus

Annual climber grown for its fabulous scent and pretty colours

Once again I find myself savouring the long slow days of winter. As I write today the snow is falling gently outside and my garden is buried under a blanket of snow. On days like these I like to use the time to make plans for the gardening season to come – March is the beginning of the sowing season and I have a box full of seeds to attend too. Sweet peas are a garden essential and the first seeds I like to sow every year.

The first sweet peas are believed to have been found growing wild in Sicily in 1695 by the Sicilian monk Father Francis Cupani. Cupani sweet peas are still available to grow today and I always like to have a few in the garden. The flowers are small, with only 2 flowers per stem and the stems short, but the scent is intoxicating! In 1870 Henry Eckford developed the first hybrid sweet peas which he called grandifloras – he eventually developed 115 grandiflora varieties. A chance cross pollination of these grandiflora varieties was found growing at the Earl of Spencer’s Althorp Park Estate by his head gardener Silas Cole. This was the first Spencer sweet pea which are typically very large, frilly and scented varieties with long stems that make them ideal as cut flowers. There are many varieties of Spencer sweet peas available now and these are my favourite varieties to grow as they combine long stem length with beautiful colour and oodles of sweet pea scent.

Delicate fragrant sweet peas evoke the nostalgia of old fashioned cottage gardens. They transport us back to country childhoods and kitchens where a jar full of sweet peas was a simple adornment on the kitchen table. I cannot imagine my garden without sweet peas and always grow far too many because I find it so hard to limit my choice of seed or discard any surplus to requirements seedlings. So great is my love of sweet peas that I try to have them in flower from the April until September and I never bore of picking them.

My earliest sweet peas will flower inside my greenhouse in April and were sown back in October. They are now quite large seedlings that I have planted at the base of a frame in my greenhouse bed. Any that I cannot fit in the greenhouse will be hardened off in the cold frames and planted outside in March (once these freezing conditions have left us) to hopefully produce an early outside crop. These sweet peas are a special variety called Winter Sunshine and Spring Sunshine and are bred to flower in low light conditions so are ideal to grow in the winter months. I buy these seeds from Owl’s Acre Sweet Peas.

The seeds that I am about to sow this month are mainly Spencer varieties that I have been growing for years and that should start flowering in July as my greenhouse sweet peas go over. I find I have less problems with pollen beetles on sweet peas that flower in mid to late summer and so now delay my sowing of these Spencer varieties until March. I am lucky to be growing in the UK as sweet peas are happiest in a cool, mild climate. Trying to grow them anywhere hot and humid is bound to lead to disappointment. In previous years I have soaked the seeds before sowing but I have read that this is not necessary so I am going to save time this year and sow the seed without any soaking or chitting.

After sowing the seeds into deep root trainers they are well watered and then placed in my heated propagator to germinate. They would germinate just as well without heat, but the propagator speeds things up. I have never covered them to exclude light whilst they germinate, although many guides do recommend to do this. Within 4-5 days the seedlings will be showing and I will move them onto the greenhouse staging for a couple of weeks to develop. I usually cover them with a clear plastic seed tray cover at this stage for extra protection against mice. After that it is into the cold frames to carry on growing and hardening off before planting out in mid April or later if the conditions are very cold. Although sweet pea plants are very hardy they tend to sulk and stop growing if transplanted into cold ground, so it is better to wait until they will be happy to grow away quickly.

Sweet peas love a rich moist soil in a bright sunny position and they are very hungry plants. We cannot expect huge growth and mountains of flowers without generous feeding. Whilst they are in their root trainers the compost will feed them for the first 6 weeks or so of growth. After that I will start to add liquid seaweed to the watering can once a week. I am also trialing a specialist sweet pea food this year – I will let you know if I think it makes any difference. Sweet peas like to have their heads in the sun and their roots in a deep moisture rich soil so I dig plenty of garden compost into the ground before transplanting and add a sprinkling of fish, blood & bone to the planting hole. I will then feed them regularly with a seaweed feed throughout their growing season. Most of my sweet peas are grown on an Agriframes frame covered with jute netting, but I also grow them up arches, in amongst my runner beans and this year I am going to try letting my spare plants scramble through climbing roses and into shrubs.

Once your sweet peas are flowering it is vital to dead head them regularly otherwise they will run to seed and stop producing new blooms in no time. I try to cut all the flowers off my plants, both in the greenhouse and outside, every week – it is one of my favourite tasks on a warm summer evening. Regular dead heading, plenty of water at the roots and a weekly feed will keep your sweet peas blooming for the longest possible time.

You can buy a good variety of sweet pea seeds in garden centres now, or you can order online from Sarah Raven, Owl’s Acre Sweet Peas, Chiltern Seeds and all the main seed suppliers. There is still time to order and sow your seeds, so if sweet peas are on your list this year do make sure you get on with growing them now.

Do you love to grow sweet peas? If you have any advice on varieties you like to grow or tips on getting the best from your sweet pea plants, please do share it with us in the Comments below.

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March 1, 2018
7 Comments
by Julie

Flower Favourites

Growing Sweet Peas – Part 2

The last time that I wrote about sweet peas I promised that this year I would follow the progress of my crop so that you can see how they develop over the season rather than just reading about my sowing techniques in January. Just in case you missed it you can read Part 1 of my series here.

This week In Part 2 I want to look at the progress of my ‘Winter Sunshine’ seedlings and show you how the sweet pea seeds sown in January are progressing, as well as sharing the varieties I have chosen to grow this year. I have also decided to answer some of the questions and share some suggestions left in the comments in my last sweet pea post.

Before I start I have some very exciting news – Agriframes have generously offered 5 lots of the lovely jute netting as a GiveAway for my readers this month. I use this every year and am always delighted with it – it is easy to use, looks lovely and goes in the compost at the end of the season – perfect!! This means that 5 lucky readers will be able to sample some jute netting – just in time for planting out your sweet peas (or garden peas or beans if you would like to use it for vegetables). This GiveAway is only open to my UK readers – please leave a comment on this post stating that you would like your name to be entered in the draw. I will notify the 5 UK winners next week, who will then need to email me their addresses so that the jute netting can be posted on to them.

Returning to the business of growing sweet peas, you may remember that back in October I ordered a selection of Winter Sunshine sweet pea seeds from Owl’s Acre Seeds. These are seeds which are bred to grow well under cover in low light conditions, so they are ideal for growing in a greenhouse or polytunnel. The seeds were soaked and sown straight away and I planted the young seedlings into the narrow border in my greenhouse in early January. I use an Agriframe Elegance Runner Bean Frame with jute netting for the sweet peas to climb up. The plants are already approaching a metre in height and are being feed every week with a seaweed feed. Last year I was a little later getting going with my winter variety of sweet peas and I still had flowers before the end of April! This year I am optimistic that flowering will start in March as long as there are no unexpectedly cold snaps which could slow them down.

Last year was the first time I had grown winter variety sweet peas in my greenhouse and I found this method of growing under cover was extremely successful. I imagine that it would work well in hotter climates where sweet peas do not succeed when grown outside – in the garden they do best in cooler climates and require a lot of regular water, so anywhere hot and dry is going to struggle to grow them. If these winter variety seeds are sown in early autumn and then grown on under cover in the winter I would expect a very early crop could be achieved in a greenhouse or polytunnel, I cannot test this out myself, but would be very pleased if anyone growing in hot dry conditions would like to give this a go and report back next spring.

I will be watching my under cover sweet peas very carefully over the next few weeks and will let you know when the first flowers appear.

My summer sweet peas, which will be planted out into the garden, were sown in January and have all germinated now. I just have one more packet of seed to sow which is a mixture of dark shades called the Venetian Sweet Pea Mix from Sarah Raven that I ordered late. The packet has just arrived so I will be soaking the seeds overnight and sowing them tomorrow. The trays of seedlings will be moved into my cold frame in the next week or two and I hope to plant them out in late March. These seedlings will survive well in the deep root trainers they were sown in for quite a few weeks, but I will start to feed them weekly at the end of February to make sure they keep growing healthily until I can plant them out.

Just to recap from my last post – I have weeded the bed where they will be planted and I will be digging in some well rotted manure before the end of February so that it can settle into the soil before I transplant the seedlings into the ground.

The taller seedlings were sown 2 weeks before the tray below.

The varieties that I am growing this year are a mix of old favourites and a few new ones. From Owl’s Acre Seeds I have sown a selection of my favourite Spencer varieties:

Gwendoline
White Frills
Anniversary
Sir Jimmy Shard

The new varieties are from Mr Fothergill’s and are:

Oxford Blue (modern hybrid)
Rosy Frills (Spencer variety)
Charles Angel (Spencer variety)
Flagship (Spencer variety)

As I mentioned above I also have a mixed packet of dark shades to sow to make sure I have some contrasting colours.

Thank you all for your interest in my last sweet pea post – I was delighted toI receive some very useful comments and questions and I thought it would be helpful to share some of these with you today.

1. Keeping Pollen Beetles Off Sweet Pea Flowers

I have really struggled with my garden sweet peas for the past two years as they have been covered in tiny pollen beetles which make them unusable as cut flowers. Teresa suggested not only cutting the flowers and leaving them in a cool dark shed or garbage overnight but also to put a brown paper bag over the flowers to really cut out the light – the idea is that the beetles will leave the flowers in search of daylight. I will certainly be trying this method of clearing the flowers of bugs in the summer, so thank you for this tip Teresa.

2. Protecting Seedlings From Mice

Many readers struggle with mice in their greenhouses. Mice love sweet peas seeds and often destroy a newly planted crop. I have been very lucky so far (I am touching wood as I say this) as the mice have stayed out of my greenhouse. Anna from Green Tapestry suggested covering new sowings with a clear propagator lid to protect the seeds – once the plants get going the mice seem to leave them alone. Although I do not have mice in my greenhouse the Cutting Garden is home to plenty of mice, so I know that I could never get away with direct sowing my sweet pea seeds in the garden.

3. Why Have My Plants Got Powdery Mildew

Julia who grows in Canada was discouraged to find her sweet peas drying out from the bottom up the stems and the leaves developing powdery mildew. My first suggestion is to make sure the plants are well watered and that the ground around them is mulched to preserve the moisture – sweet peas hate to have dry roots. The hotter and more humid the climate the greater the problems with powdery mildew will be. You can treat it with a chemical control if you want to go that route or for organic gardeners I have read that spraying plants with 2/3 tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in a gallon of water once a week will help – this is just a suggestion as I have never tried it. It is hard to stop the stems from drying out lower down as sweet peas tend to flower from higher and higher up the stems as the season progresses, although cutting out dry sideshoots will help with the look of the plants. I grow sweet peas for a short crop of 6-8 weeks (I have usually had enough of dead heading by then) and will take them out as soon as they start to look tatty or overgrown. As a result I have usually pulled them out before any problems develop. I find the sweet pea frame is a great support for a late crop of runner or french beans, so will often compost the plants in mid August to free up the space.

4. Feeding Sweet Pea Seedlings

Cathy from Rambling In The Garden asked whether I feed my garden sweet pea seedlings when I am feeding my winter sweet pea plants growing in the greenhouse. I did mention this above, but thought it worth repeating as feeding is so important. From the end of February, every week when I feed my plants growing in the greenhouse bed I will also feed the root trainers to make sure that these seedlings do not go short of food. I use a seaweed feed that I mix in with a watering can of water.

Please do leave any questions that you have in the comments below and also do please share your sweet pea growing experiences here throughout this year – I would love to hear how your sweet peas are getting on.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that lots of you will enter the generous Jute Netting GiveAway – just say that you would like to be entered in the draw in the comments below for a chance to win one of 5 sets of Agriframe’s Jute Netting!! Please remember is only open to UK readers.

Finally, I must say a very big thank you to Agriframes for sponsoring this post – I will be back with Part 3 in March when I plant my young seedlings outside.

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February 12, 2016
36 Comments
by Julie

Flower Favourites

Growing Sweet Peas – Part 1

As we approach the beginning of February I like to finish sowing my sowing sweet peas for the summer. Sweet peas are the first of the annual flowers that I sow for my Cutting Garden every year. These beautiful frilly scented blooms are an early summer staple, producing plenty of cutting material from June to the end of July and often on into August and September if I have been rigorous about dead heading.

Sweet peas look beautiful on their supports, flower abundantly and have that unmistakable scent of summer when gathered together in a posy – a bunch of sweet peas on my kitchen windowsill is a summer must. My favourite colours are the delicate pastel pinks and lavenders, but I always grow a few dark varieties for contrast in the vase. Sadly 2015 was another poor year for my outdoor crop – for the second time my sweet peas were covered in tiny black pollen beetles making the flowers unusable inside. Apparently the beetles love the yellow flowers of the rapeseed crop and as these flowers fade they fly off in search of a new home – yet again my sweet pea crop proved very attractive to them. I did resolve last summer to concentrate my efforts on growing sweet peas under cover this year and forgo my outdoor crop, but gardening is often more about anticipation than results and I just cannot help but have another go outside this year. If nothing else these flowers add height and beauty to the Cutting Garden!

Although there is plenty of advice to the contrary I always soak my sweet pea seeds overnight before sowing – I find this speeds up germination considerably. I pour each variety of seed into a separate jam jar with the label underneath so that I do mot get the seeds mixed up. After soaking I drain each jar of seeds into a tea strainer and pour the plumped up seeds back into their packet.

After soaking overnight the seeds almost double in size and sometimes start to sprout right there in the jar.

I then sow the seeds two to a plug into root trainers. Root trainers are ideal for sowing peas, beans and sweet peas, which all have long root growth.

After sowing, the seeds are well watered and then placed in my heated propagator to germinate. They would germinate just as well without heat, but the propagator speeds things up. I have never covered them to exclude light whilst they germinate, although many guides do recommend to do this. Within 4-5 days the seedlings will be showing and I will move them onto the greenhouse staging for a couple of weeks. After that it is into the cold frames to carry on growing and harden off before planting out, hopefully in late March or early April. In previous years I have pricked out the growing tip of the young plants just above a set of leaves to thicken them and create more bushy growth.

This year I am going to try the cordon method of growing – I will not prick out the growing tip and, as with tomatoes, I will remove all the side shoots as the plants grow to encourage one straight strong stem. This is the growing method which is meant to produce the largest flowers and longest stems which are in turn the best for cutting. I am aiming for quality over quantity this year!

Sweet peas love a rich moist soil in a bright sunny position and they are hungry plants (you cannot expect huge growth and mountains of flowers without generous feeding). Whilst they are in their pots the compost will feed them for the first 6 weeks or so of growth. As they will remain in their pots for a few more weeks until conditions are suitable for planting out, after about 5 weeks I will start to add liquid seaweed to the watering can once a week.

During February (weather permitting) I will prepare their planting space. I have adopted a metal runner bean frame which I cover with jute netting to support my sweet peas – this has proved very successful. I order the jute netting from Agriframes – it is much nicer to use than pea netting, which drives me to distraction as it knots itself around everything except my supports. At the end of the year the jute netting can be composted along with the old plants, which saves the frustrating task of trying to store unruly plastic pea netting in a tidy way.

This year I am going to prepare the soil by digging plenty of well rotted farmyard manure in a few weeks before planting the young plants 6 inches apart. After the plants have been transferred to their growing site I will continue with regular watering and a weekly feed of tomato food or liquid seaweed. A few weeks after planting I will start tying in the young plants to the jute netting to keep them in an upright position so that the stems climb up the supports rather than trail on the ground or become intertwined with each other. If a hard frost is forecast I will throw a fleece over the young plants just in case, but really they are quite hardy and cope well with the cool spring weather. Once they start to flower I will continue feeding and watering, making sure that all the flowers are cut off the plants at least once a week to stop them running to seed. With this regime they should be flowering from mid June until well into September, although the longest stems will only last for the first 6 weeks or so of flowering.

There are plenty of sweet pea seeds to buy in the garden centres now, or you can order online from Sarah Raven, Owl’s Acre Sweet Peas and all the main seed suppliers. There is still plenty of time to order and sow your seeds, so if sweet peas are on your list this year do make sure you get on with growing them in February.

I am planning to revisit my sweet pea crop here once a month, so that you can see how they develop and I can explain more about my growing process. I also have my winter varieties growing in the greenhouse and they are really starting to take off now that the light is returning – next month I will show you how they are looking.

So will you be growing sweet peas this year? If you have any advice on varieties you like to grow or tips on getting the best from your sweet pea plants please do share it with us.

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January 31, 2016
20 Comments
by Julie

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