Sweet pea advice please

[ChocClare]

I usually grow sweet peas from seed, but the ones I planted this year did absolutely zilcho, so yesterday when I saw a cheapo pack of sweet pea seedlings, I thought well, it's much the same price as another packet of seeds, so why not?

The pack says "12 plants", but it is one of those polystyrene deelies divided into 12 cells and in each cell there are 4 little seedlings, each about 2-3" high, thin, with about 5 leaves. Now, I usually put 1 sweet pea seed in a single pot, so I'm not used to having all these little seedlings together.

My question is this: do I need to pot up all 4 seedlings in each pot, or can I separate them out so I end up with ... er... 48 (quick maths, there)?

Also, at what point do I pot them on when they're like this? I usually sow mine into larger pots than this, so I miss out the first stage, lol. Or do I leave them where they are until they are ready to be pinched out a bit? My peas, which I planted at the same time as my unsuccessful sweet peas, are about the same height but much sturdier little plants - these seem leggy by comparison.

[deezyb]

hi - that's a shame that you didn't have good sweet peas last time! It's tricky trying to split up the plants when they have been sown in a polystyrene box thing, but try and tease them apart and then put into empty toilet rolls filled with compost, then plant the whole thing, toilet roll and all in the ground when ready - or you could put a couple in each toilet roll to save a bit of space. I've got some already going on my windowsill and are probably a bit like yours are now, I've not pinched them out yet, will leave them a while yet! Hope this helps ChocClare!

[ChocClare]

Thanks for that, deezyb, I did wonder if it was worth teasing them out. I don't seem to have any luck with the toilet roll method, that's what all mine were planted in last time - the loo roll seems to act as a wick and pull all the moisture out, but I will decant them into the millions of plastic cups which get chucked on a daily basis by our water cooler at work!

Thanks again

[roitelet]

Don't forget to make a hole in the Plastic cups CC. I would pinch them out at 3 leaves and if they have been planted could together they could be a bit straggly.

1 or 2 to a pot? It depends how much space you have to plant them, they make HUGE plants

[ChocClare]

Thanks for that, Roitelet. Yes, don't worry about the holes - I made that mistake last year and ended up with very waterlogged seedlings

My reason for wanting to get as many as possible is not (just) greed but because I work in a nursing home, and me and the activities organiser (who is an RGN) want to make a sensory garden for our mentally frail residents - we got them growing tomatoes and sunflowers last year, and it was lovely to hear a lady who normally can't string more than a couple of words together saying how lovely it was to be able to pop a ripe, warm tomato into her mouth straight from the plant. So this year we thought we'd do peas (everyone has wonderful memories of shelling peas, don't they?!), tomatoes, strawberries and - for scent - sweet peas, that they can pick and put in vases if they'd like to. I think there is definitely a Proustian something about smell and taste which even those with dementia don't seem to lose completely.