Sweet Peas 2021….

[Babru]

I sow mine outside and they germinate fine. If you keep them indoors I think they might grow like mad and it's a bit early. You'll also need to harden them off. No need if you keep them outside in a sheltered place. Cold frame or cold greenhouse ideally.

[nickdub]

Sowing inside is fine, but they should not need to be kept indoors, except in the case of heavy snow. They are perfectly hardy plants and can be overwintered outside until the ground is warm enough to plant out.

The main advantage to this is that if your ground dries out quickly in the Spring the plants will get the chance to get their roots further down into the soil before this happens. If your soil is cold and damp well into the Summer, then sowing in place is the easiest.

[mrbadexample]

Thanks both, they've not germinated yet - should I move them to the unheated greenhouse?

[nickdub]

Wait until the plants have a leaf or two, then yes move them to GH first, and a bit later they can go outside to harden off. I've overwintered them in trays on a bench outside with up to 10 C of frost no problem,

[Containergardener]

Not started mine yet. Would prefer some sun to keep me warm in the greenhouse . It needs to hurry up im getting itchy fingers.

[Bren In Pots]

Containergardener I've not sown mine yet either will probably sow them next month when theres a bit more daylight.

[Martin H]

Mrs H is off househunting up north this week. On the assumption that there will be somewhere to plant them out and that we move in time, I sowed some sweet peas into rootrainers. 16 varieties, 2 modules per variety, 3 seeds in each module.

[Babru]

Wow, good luck. We moved three years ago, and of course we had to sell before buying. I had dug up or taken cuttings of favourite plants, but I knew I had to leave loads behind. There was so little for sale in Edinburgh that I had no idea if we'd need to rent for a bit, who knows where or for how long. In the end we did find somewhere on time, with a decent sized garden. House moving, very hard work! I hope you find a lovely new garden for your sweet peas.

[annie8]

Hope the house hunting is going well Martin H. Think myself lucky too that I live in the city but have a decent sized garden. Spent a fun hour or two last night looking at metal obelisks to grow my sweet peas up. Found some really nice but not cheap ones I might treat myself to. Will justify on the basis that I will have them for years and can’t imagine a year when I won’t grow sweet peas. Just love them. My autumn ones are still doing well in the gh despite all the recent cold weather. The new ones I sowed haven’t come through yet.

[nickdub]

Finally, got round to finding my saved seed and sowed about 10 days ago. Got over 100 plants now about 5" high sitting in my unheated conservatory. Going to need to find some people to give plants to, as I don't have much space in the little bit of garden I've fenced off from the local deer.

[annie8]

My autumn sown sweet peas are growing well and just repotted them into pots about 15cm by 15cm deep as the roots were poking out the bottom. They are trailing about a bit though and can only imagine how long they will be when I can finally plant them out. Should I be trying to give them something to climb up in the meantime?

[nickdub]

I wouldn't worry about the height just pinch the tops out. Unless you are growing show quality flowers, more stems from pinching means more flowers.

[annie8]

I did pinch the tops out when they were smaller. Should I do it again ?

[nickdub]

Up to you = yes if you want really bushy plants. Anything stopping you hardening them off, and getting them planted outside ? The sooner they are in the ground and establishing a really deep root system the better, as long as the ground isn't frozen or waterlogged.

[annie8]

Will do. I am pretty far north - in Edinburgh, so was going to hold off for a bit before planting out. Have my eye on a couple of rather nice obelisks too so better get those ordered.