beginners question

[glut]

I am a bit obsessed with growing vegetables and spend my spare time trying to learn more. I have left no time to grow flowers and by ignorance will probably show with this question! I am going to try growing sweet peas for the first time for cutting and attracting bees. Can I sow them straight out? and when should I start? Thanks in advance.

[Victoria26]

Mine are out in the garden just now - showing about an inch. Took a while to germinate though.

[Pumpkin Becki]

You could sew them straight in the ground in April (ish), but I've always had better success sewing them into root trainers or loo rolls about now, and leaving them on the window sill 'til mid May when risk of frost has gone (bear in mind I'm in Kent, so you'd be a bit later). You'll want to pinch them out to about four pairs of leaves to stop them going leggy. Then about two weeks before I intend to plant them I start to harden them off outside, initially bringing them in at night and eventually leaving them out round the clock.

Some people do Autumn sewings as well for really early flowers, but I think you might need a greenhouse for this, I've never tried myself.

[glut]

Thanks. I am a bit short of window sill space at the moment (!!) so I might try a late April sow straight in.

[la largartija]

what zone are you in glut?

[Pumpkin Becki]

Thanks. I am a bit short of window sill space at the moment (!!) so I might try a late April sow straight in.

HeeHee, I know the feeling, you won't need many plants to get a really good harvest of sweetpea flowers though. I usually only do about 6 or 8 each year and end up running out of vases and having to give them away!!

[la largartija]

will sweet peas drape over the edge of a hanging ?
basket

[Pumpkin Becki]

will sweet peas drape over the edge of a hanging ?
basket

There is a special hanging basket variety of Sweet Pea on the market now, its been bred to stay more compact than standard vartieties and doesn't need pinching out...can't think what its called though, sorry. Think Thompson and Morgan do it.

[la largartija]

well, I bought a pack of sweet peas and on the packet it stated that it was the climbing kind, so I was thinking that it should drape over the side of the basket as well as it would climb up a trellis. Is this correct

[Pumpkin Becki]

It's worth a go, but you'll probably find it's natural instinct to climb takes over and it scrambles up the chains and over your roof quicker than a Mission Impossible agent with a grappling hook.

[faerieprincess]

There is a special hanging basket variety of Sweet Pea on the market now, its been bred to stay more compact than standard vartieties and doesn't need pinching out...can't think what its called though, sorry. Think Thompson and Morgan do it.

I have that one, it's called Pink Cupid and it is by Thompson and Morgan. I've never grown it before, so can't tell you from experience what it will be like, but the picture shows them sitting upwards, and not draping down so I doubt there will be a cascade effect if that's what you're after.

If you want them to cascade down a bit, why not try some snapdragons instead? I also have that one and the picture shows them hanging down and under the basket, or some nasturtiums?