As promised this is the first in my new series of Flower Focus posts, where I am planning to share my growing experiences along with lots of photographs of the flowers in focus.
Today I am taking a look at sweet peas. Although it is a long time until we will see the first blooms, January is a good month to order seed and start to sow sweet peas in a cold greenhouse or on a windowsill in a cool room.
Sweet peas are a flower that take me right back to my childhood. My father always grew the very best sweet peas – long stemmed and sweetly scented. He was rigorous about cutting the flowers regularly, so our house was full of posies in the summer and his plants always seemed to continue producing for far longer than mine ever do.
Sweet peas are an early summer staple in my Cutting Garden. They look beautiful on their supports, flower abundantly and have that unmistakable scent when gathered together in a posy. My favourite colours are the pastel shades, but I always grow a few dark varieties for contrast in the vase. Sadly 2014 was a bad year for me – for the first time my crop was covered in tiny black pollen beetles making the flowers unusable inside. Apparently the beetles love the yellow flowers of the oilseed rape crop and as these flowers fade they fly off in search of a new home – in this case my sweet pea crop. Hopefully the farming field next to my Cutting Garden will have a different crop this summer, but as a back up I will be growing a batch in the greenhouse where they are relatively safe from infestation.
I tend to favour the long stemmed Spencer sweet peas as these are the best for flower arranging. My supplier this year is Owl’s Acre Sweet Peas. I had a 100% gemination success rate last season with their seeds and the flowers were long stemmed, scented and bountiful. By regular dead heading I kept the crop going until September.
There are 3 main types of annual sweet peas – modern, heirloom (grandiflora) and Spencer. Many of the modern sweet peas produce beautiful long stems but with little or no scent, so those are out for me. The heirloom varieties have much smaller flowers, although the scent is fantastic. I find these are best in the garden as the stem length and flower size is not ideal for bouquets. They do make a lovely posy for the house though! My favourite heirloom variety is Cupani and I will sow a number of seeds to grow over my arches this summer. That leaves me with the Spencer varieties – these have beautiful scent and large flowers on long stems – they are the ones that float my boat!
For the first time last year I soaked all my sweet pea seeds overnight before sowing – this seemed to speed up germination considerably. After soaking overnight the seeds were sown 1cm deep, two to a plug in rootrainers and covered with compost. Rootrainers 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. As soon as they germinate I will move them onto the greenhouse staging and then into the cold frames to harden off before planting out (hopefully in late March). When the plants are about 6 inches tall I will prick out the growing tips just above a set of leaves to thicken them and create bushy growth. I will sow 10 seeds of each variety with the intention of planting out the 5 strongest plants of each variety in the early spring.
The varieties I will be growing this year are:-
- Anniversary – pink picotee
- Cupani – maroon/violet bi colour
- Dark Passion – dark blue
- Eclipse – rich mauve
- Ethel Grace – lavender
- Gwendoline – magenta pink
- Sir Jimmy Shard – lilac stripe
- White Frills
- White Supreme
- Windsor – Maroon
Many growers start their sweet peas before Christmas. I have always chosen January as it reduces the length of time that I have to look after the seedlings and it is what my father always did. In a Gardeners World trial last year Monty Don sowed seed (as I remember) in November, January and straight into the ground in April. His January sown sweet peas were the most successful and flowered well into September. Following the trial he said he would be changing his life long habit of sowing before Christmas and moving to a January timetable.
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 (they are hardy down to -5) I will start to add liquid seaweed to the watering can once a week.
During February (weather permitting) I will prepare their planting space. Last year I adopted a metal runner bean frame covered with jute netting to support my sweet peas and this proved very successful. I ordered the jute netting from Agriframes last year for my sweet peas, peas and beans and have plenty left over for this year. 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, which saves the frustrating task of trying to store unruly pea netting in a tidy way.
I will add plenty of garden compost and fish, blood and bone to the soil 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 – I use maxi crop on all my flowers and vegetables. A few weeks after planting I tie the young plants to the jute netting to keep them in an upright position and then check weekly that the stems are climbing up the supports and not lying on the ground. 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 September.
I have mentioned before that I have sown an early variety of sweet peas called Winter Sunshine for the first time this year. Sown in November they are now small plants that I will be planting under cover into the greenhouse bed later this month. I am not sure how they will perform, but am hoping to have a small supply of flowers during April and May. I will keep you informed about their progress in my monthly greenhouse reviews.
If you have any questions about growing sweet peas, or would like to share your own growing experiences, please do leave a comment. My favourite posts are those that result in us sharing information – genuine growing experience is the best way for us all to learn and there will be many more tips for success with sweet peas in other growing situations.
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Excellent advice and inspirational pictures.
Thank you!!
A most informative post Julie which I have bookmarked. I normally sow some sweet peas in October/November but during the recent run of mild winters these sowings have become very leggy. So this year I will be sowing my first batch in January. I tried root trainers a couple of years ago or so and they are brilliant as they make transplanting so much easier. I usually grow ‘Matucana’ rather than ‘Cupani’ but they are both so gloriously scented. Pea netting is an absolute nightmare! I usually end up tying myself up in knots when I use it so must investigate the jute netting forthwith.
I think we have all been there with the pea netting Anna – it is horrible stuff! I even found my January sown sweet peas got a bit leggy last year – the mild winters make such a difference.
Hi Julie, thanks for such a detailed post. I have a couple of questions though – you say you prepare your beds in February, but when do you tend to plant out? And how close together do you plant your plants? I would tend to plant at least two per one netting ‘upright’ but sometimes do more as I want as many flowers as possible for my space, but then think they don’t do so well as they end up competing for food/water.
Oh, and having already bought and planted at least half a dozen varieties in December, your post, and the link for Owl’s Acre, has prompted me to succumb to more! There’s really no hope for me…..
Hi Jen – thank you for your lovely comment & questions. I aim to plant my sweet peas out in mid to late March. I would delay that however if the ground is frozen or the weather particularly cold. As long as you have hardened your sweet peas off well before planting out they can cope with cold conditions and light frosts.
In the past I have planted two plants every second netting upright but I still find they can become overcrowded and unruly – yours are even closer on every upright. This year I am going to try ‘less is more’ and do one plant every second upright. I will let you know if they perform better with more space.
I agree that they are addictive – with wider spacing I might need to have another whole row of netting!
I like the look of your jute netting for peas, as the netting i use is never strong enough. It is too hot and dry here for sweetpeas to be successful, so i will just enjoy everyone elses!
Have a look at the Owl’s Acre Winter Sunshine range Christina – I bet you could grow early sweet peas in your greenhouse before the weather heats up.
Hi Julie
Thanks for this and I’ve linked your blog into mine so that people can follow this clear and inspiring post.
Sue
I also enjoyed your latest post and love the contrast between your past life and now.
Thank you for your comment and the link Sue – I am glad you found it so useful.
Must go back and read this when I am less tired, Julie! I am interested to see you pop 2 seeds into each root trainer – I use these so will perhaps try doubling up next time. Because of my success with autumn sown ones last year I have done the same this year and sowed in November, but will need to decide when to sow a second batch. Lots of info in your post Julie, so thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
I only do 2 seeds as an insurance Cathy – I will discard the weaker plant if both germinate. I have planted both in previous years (and sometimes on gardening programmes they plant whole pots) but I always find the plants get too crowded once they start to romp away – now I just plant one at a time. Do you know when your sweet peas started flowering last year and when you felt it was time to remove them? I would be interested in knowing how they compare to January sown ones.
They were certainly flowering by the end of May and continued into September – but it was an exceptional summer in terms of sun. As it was the first time I have had any real success with sweet peas I can’t compare it with anything myself. And this year I shall be feeding and watering – I will, I will!
This is extremely educational and detailed – thank you for this post. I’ve reblogged it to spread your inspirational wisdom, and so that I don’t lose the post and can try your tips out for myself.
Hi Joanna and thank you for your comment and the re blogg – I am pleased you found this so useful and hope the tips work for you. I expect that in Edinburgh you need to wait a bit later to plant out sweet peas in which case I would try a mid to late February sowing rather than January – otherwise your pot grown plants might get too leggy and struggle for food.
Thanks Julie, yes it did occur to me that waiting a bit longer might be appropriate. My rule of thumb is that Edinburgh is three weeks behind the south, so I’ll aim for mid-Feb. Anyway I’ve ordered my sweet peas and I’m really looking forward to getting started with them!
Reblogged this on Edinburgh Garden Diary and commented:
Inspirational and educational post on exactly how to produce the perfect sweetpeas, a plant I thought I might try for the first time this year. I’ll be following Julie’s tips closely and will report on my results.
I love the sweet, sweet smell — like cotton candy. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Kevin – it is nice to meet you. Thank you for leaving a comment and I agree – scented sweet peas are an essential part of summer!
I’ve your post bookmarked because I had no time to read it before. Glad I found the time. Funnily enough I was on the Owl’s Acre website last week looking for sweet peas. I may go ahead and try them now, given your comments. I didn’t have a lot of luck with the root trainers when I tried them in 2013. My plants in pots were much better. But now I’m wondering if I should give them another go. Beautiful, luscious sweet pea pictures – thanks!
Thank you for saving my post Cathy – I am glad you found reading it worthwhile. I am interested in your views on root trainers as I have never tried growing sweet peas any other way. What was better about your plants in pots – more flowers, longer life, stronger growth as a young plant?
The plants in the root trainers were much smaller and less vigorous as seedlings. i.e. they didn’t grow as well to start with. The ones in the pots were bigger, bolder when I planted out!Unfortunately I didn’t keep track of which was which when they went in the ground. Perhaps the root trainer plants really took off and I just didn’t notice? You know – I’m going to try to make a decent comparison this year and be more observing about the differences between the two. Thanks for spurring me on!
Thank you Cathy – please do report back – I would be interested to know what you conclude. I have already sown all my seed for this year – in root trainers – so can’t join in, but I might try both methods next year.
A bit late with my comments, but have just popped over from a link in Edinburgh Garden Dairies. I really enjoyed your post and found some of the tips really useful such as using liquid seaweed and jute netting. I have grown Sweet Peas for years but not very successfully. I created a new area for them this year and dug it deep and filled with lots of compost etc and although I was really late planting out I am getting lovely flowers just now. I am never quite satisfied with the colour mixes in the packets so would like to grow several varieties as you do, but I don’t have enough space for many plants. Do you have any experience of how well seeds will last to use a year later? Thanks for the link to Owl’s Acre website – I will certainly give them a try.
Thank you Annette – I am glad you found this useful! I certainly have no problem with germinating seed that I have had for 12 months – I have never tried to keep it longer than that though. I am moving my sweet pea site this year so must make sure to prepare it really well as you did over winter.
Thanks Julie. That sounds a good idea. I hope my site will last a few years as it is probably the best site I have for sweet peas now getting most sun and best soil.
seweet pea
Help! I was too late to plant seeds, so I bought a large pot from a garden centre. The green growth has been strong, but no flowers. I’ve fed with some tomato feed, and I’m about to buy some seaweed extract to try. Any tips before I lose the whole year with no flowers?! I was so hoping for some lovely sweet peas in my new garden. Thanks for your help, Hazel
Hi Hazel – I think you just need to be patient. As long as your sweet peas look healthy & you keep them well watered I think they will start to flower soon & give you flowers well into September when everyone else will be pulling their plants out. I will keep my fingers crossed for you!