Growing Sweet Peas: The Quick Read

Sow sweet peas in October-November or from Valentine's day to the end of March.

1. Soak your seeds in water 24-48 hours before you intend to sow them to help soften the seed coat.

   

2. Sow 2-3 seeds in 9cm pots using multipurpose compost. Use your deepest pots or root trainers to accommodate vigorous root growth. DIY alternatives like loo roll holders work well too.

3. Water the compost lightly until damp (not soaked), push seeds 2cm down and re-cover.

4. Put your pots into an unheated greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame to germinate. Be patient, germination can take two weeks. Don’t be tempted to water your pots before the seedlings emerge. 

5. Protect your seedlings from rodents

6. Grow on in cool conditions in your unheated greenhouse or similar. Pinch out the growing tip when seedlings are 10-15 cm tall to promote branching, floriferous growth.

7. A month or so after germination, you’ll see white, furry roots poking their noses out the bottom of the pot. This tells you that you need to pot them on. Pot on autumn sown plants into 13cm (1 litre pots). Wait until March to plant out and choose a mild, dry spell of weather for planting.

8. Prepare soil by digging a 30 cm deep trench and backfilling with a rich compost - homemade or well rotted manure.

9. Plant 15 cm apart along a support structure. This could be a fence, trellis or a bamboo teepee. Slugs and snails do like sweet peas so be vigilant.

10. Once blooming, keep picking the flowers. This will result in more blooms. Keeping your plants well watered encourages bountiful blooms and longevity. For the longest vase life (5 days), pick stems when the top two flowers are still closed.

11. You can collect seed in a haphazard way at the end of the season or mark off a few plants to keep for seed. There is a pronounced tradeoff between flower production and seed production in sweet peas, so we find its best to choose some plants to take seed from, and others to pick from.

12. Remember sweet peas are poisonous when ingested so be aware if using them in gardens with children and pets.