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.
Insert your profile info here, by going to Users -> Your Profile -> Biographical Info. Profile image (avatar) comes from gravatar.com. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam faucibus ornare lectus nec cursus.
You have given me much food for thought…and lots of ideas to help me get mine to grow. I will be starting my planning in a day or so, and will be looking at how I am going to grow these outdoors this year. Hoping for success!
I will keep my fingers crossed for you Donna – when will you start sowing seed? Probably not as early as I do I guess.
I’m looking forward to reading about what varieties you’ve decided to grow this year Julie. I sow my sweet peas in root trainers too which gets them off to an excellent start. Unfortunately last year some of my seeds disappeared before they germinated – mice methinks – so I covered my second attempts with a clear propagator lid until they showed. That did the trick. Those of us living in the north of the country can get away with leaving sowing until March unless we particularly want early flowers. I’m glad that I read this post as it’s timely reminder for me to order some of that magical sounding jute netting.
Thank you Anna and I will list my varieties in my next post. I have been very lucky not to have had a mouse problem so far in my greenhouse although I am sure it will come – that is a very good reason to cover the seeds.
What an informative article — thanks so much for detailing how you grow your sweet peas. I was able to grow them successfully for the first time last year by wintersowing, but I am planning to start some inside this year to see if they bloom earlier that way. Good luck with your sweet peas this year too! -Beth
It will be interesting to hear how your indoor sown sweet peas compare Beth – I have never direct sown sweet peas as I always like to get them going in pots so that I am planting out only the strongest plants. Good luck to you too – hopefully we will be picking our first bunches in early summer!
Julie, Do you think it is okay to plant sweet peas in the same spot year after year as long as the soil is replenished?
I have never had a problem Nancy and grow mine in the same spot most years. As long as the soil is enriched each year you should be fine.
As it is too hot for sweet peas to grow well in summer I am being converted to the idea of growing some early varieties in the greenhouse if I can make a space for them. I’m looking forward to seeing how your greenhouse ones grow this year.
I am sure this will work for you Christina – if you sow the seeds in September you will probably have flowers by now – mine are romping away in the greenhouse but need a few more weeks to flower.
Hello Julie and thank you for this timely article and I will be looking forward to following your advice as the season gets along. I am waiting for my seed order from Sarah Raven and will try the soak and cordon method with you this year. I think the advice for dealing with the little black beetles is to put your cut flowers in a container of water and pop them in a cool garage or outbuilding with brown paper bags over them. This encourages the beetles to try to fly away and you can then remove them in the paper bag and enjoy bug free flowers indoors. Will you be sowing in the greenhouse too this year?
Thank you Teresa for the tips on pollen beetles! I do bring my sweet peas into a shed after cutting, but have never covered them with brown paper bags – I will be trying this and will let you know if it helps. Good luck with your soaking and cordon growing – we will have to compare notes as the year progresses.
Hi Julie, thanks for this informative blog post. I have been growing sweet peas for two years. The first year was a success, but last year I failed miserably. The day after I planted them in the garden it hailed! They never really recovered. But I agree with you, there is so much fun in planning and choosing. I haven’t ordered my seeds yet. Obviously, we don’t have as much choice as you do. I can choose between old varieties, from the 1890’s, and modern varieties. Any advice?
I think it depends on what you want out of your sweet peas Pauline. I often grow one or two of the old grandiflora’s for the scent and dainty flowers, but if you want big flowers and long stems for cutting you need the modern varieties. Read the descriptions carefully before ordering to make sure you know what you are getting.
My seed order containg sweet peas came through the letter box from Chiltern Seeds yesterday. I planted some Seeds in October for an early display when the gardens are open.
Good luck Brian – I hope your early ones are doing well! Do you plant your second batch outside to replace the first ones or in a different bed?
Great post thank you and I’ve just ordered the jute netting, I agree about the other type which tangles in cardigan and shirt buttons and has me swearing.
Last year was the first time I had grown sweet peas. I’ve sown some indoors and some directly in pots outside a little later. While I did not gain much with those that were sown indoors beforehand as after I transferred them outside we had some cold snaps and that stunt their growth, so both were growing more or less at the same rate. I’m in Canada, just north of Toronto, zone 4. Anyway, the problem I had, and I hope you will be able to identify it and give some suggestions, they flowered nicely, but then later in the season they started looking dry snd sort of white, almost like powdered mildew I would say, but not sure. So they did not look nice at all and soon all dried up even though I was watering them. So this year I’m a little discouraged and not sure what I should do. Hope you have some ideas.
Thanks for the comprehensive guide and the delightful pictures Julie. I am really pleased witth my Winter Sunshine ones so far – the ones sown in November are not so very far behind those sown over a month earlier. My other autumn sownings aren’t doing so well though and it was perhaps too mild a winter – just about to sow more now. Do you feed your greenhouse ones pre-flowering too?
Thanks for an interesting read.