Sweet Peas

[cilla]

I was given Sweet Peas from my daughter on Mothers Day so I planted them out in mid March with canes. As it is my first time growing them I read and did pinch out the flowers and cut the tentacles when they were first growing but stopped mid April. Now they are growing really tall. Questions
1. When do they flower?
2. Do I still cut some of the tentacles as I know some are needed to attach to the cane?
3. What else do I need to do to look after them?

[Martin H]

Hi Cilla.

1. They will be flowering quite soon now. The ones I sowed last October are flowering already, the ones I started in January will be out next week. Ones sown in March won't be much longer either.

2. There are two different ways of growing sweet peas. One way is to cut off all the tendrils, remove side shoots and grow them as a single stem tied to a cane - this is the "cordon method". The other way is to leave them to scramble up string or netting and do their own thing the way nature intended.

Sweet pea tendrils struggle to hang on to a cane, which is why people tie them to canes and cut the tendrils off to stop them wandering off in other directions. But they are happy hanging on to strings and other plants.

3. Once they start flowering, you need to stop them making sweet pea pods. This means you have to go over the plant pretty much every day and cut the dead flowers off. If you don't do this they will stop flowering and concentrate on making seed. Personally I cut off every flower as soon as it is fully open and fill vases all over the house. This becomes a very pleasant daily job because of the speed of flower production. But if you want them as garden display, wait until the flowers fade then cut them off.

Other than that you just need to keep them watered and give them a feed every now and then once they are flowering. Personally I use tomato feed but they don't seem to be all that fussy.

They will get very tall, especially if you are doing them as single cordons. But if you are leaving them to scramble you can just pinch out the top growing shoots once they are as tall as you can handle. For me that's about 8 feet high, I can't reach any higher so I don't want them taller than that.

Good luck, sweet peas are really easy and really rewarding, have fun!

[cilla]

Are they annuals? I know nothing about collecting and storing seeds from plants or vegetables.

Thank you for your reply.

[Martin H]

Yes, they are hardy annuals. Sow fresh seed every year: in autumn for the earliest flowers, otherwise in spring.

[muddled]

I lurve sweetpeas

I have nowt to add to Martin's growing advice.

Just wanted to point out that the cordon method gives long stems for putting in vases, letting them scramble give a variety of stem lengths....some rather short.
This is not a bad thing, I much prefer it that way. The short ones I put in jam jars in my daughters bedrooms. Just one jar scents the whole room!
Longer ones I put in my (rather out of control) collection of jugs from charity shops.

At the end of the summer I stop picking and watering to allow the seeds to set. I collect these when the pods are dry and brittle, shell them and then put in a jar of uncooked rice for a week or two before putting away to sow in witer or early spring.

This year I bought new seed for the first time in a decade because (by process of natural selection) I only got red flowers last year! But saving the seed, I think, gives you the varieties that best enjoy the conditions in your particular plot/garden.

[Martin H]

If you save seed you will find that the plants mostly come true. So seed from a white flower will give white flowers, etc. If you are really well organised you can keep a variety / colour going indefinitely!

[ancee]

I plant mine, then let them do what they want. I didn't know you were supposed to pinch them out at a certain time, and am not sure what I'm doing so I just let them get on with it. I've collected seeds for the last three years and seem to have a darkish purpley one more than any other colour. They smell divine!