Planting out sweet pea plants. When?

[Johnboy]

I have an allotment in Hythe, Southampton, and noticed that my neighbour had planted out her sweet pea plants in Late January. In conversation, she said that the seeds were sown last October, and the plants kept in pots in her garden, Not under glass. We had unusually hard frosts in December/January, but her plants look better than mine which are in a cold frame.
Has anyone any advice or experience of planting out sweet peas so early?

[bramble]

Johnboy, you can sow them in autumn or spring and they are relatively hardy so long as they have some protection. Your neighbours hedge was obviously a sheltered area.
The only difference i know of is, they will flower earlier if they are sown in the autumn.