Sweet Peas

[laurieuk]

Sunday 7th February at last managed to get my sweetpea trench ready and plants planted. I have got some fleece handy just in case very severe weather should return but as long as the roots are in the ground the tops are hardy. I usually pick the first bunch Chelsae flower sow week. The seed was sown 8th October to get a good root system.

[laurieuk]

[gwynnethmary]

impressive! They look very strong and healthy- mine are still very small and skinny, but I planted them very late.  I pinched out the tips yeterday, in the hope of getting them a bit bushier.

[emmy1978]

I'm envious Laurie. They are beautiful root systems. I usually sow mine direct but I will be doing this next year.  :)

[Tee Gee]

Question Laurie??

I have often read that one should nip out the growing tip to encourage 'bushiness' which is understandable now for my question;

Do you need to do this if you are using the 'cordon' method when growing them?

What I am getting at is; If you are planning on growing them singly up a cane and tying them in, is there any point encouraging bushier growth apart from doing this as an insurance against plant damage.

I rarely 'tip' mine and if they do grow more than one stem naturally I cut the weaker one/s off.

Whats your thoughts on this?

[laurieuk]

I think you can see that I do not pinch mine, I leave them and almost always they will break on their own. When I plant I leave all the side shoots until they have really started to grow then mainly I will reduce to one. If I have a very strong growing variety I will run two so as to even up the plants in the row.
I used to show each year but since a heart op have not done so for some time, although if you look on my website you will see I did last year.I only grow them to give them to the person who owns this place , we do not have flowers indoors ourselves.

[Mortality]

I've sown some in a hanging basket for the front garden, will they be ok like that?
Will I need to do anything to them?

[sunloving]

Hi Mortality
The thing to bear in mind is that they are very hungry and thirsty just as bad as a tomato so in the basket youll need lots of those moisture granules even a saucer at the bottom to get them through and later on a stash of chicken manure pellets.

Climbers make a fab display in a basket though dont they , i usually have morning glories and a passion fruit in baskets which do really well (if you remember to water them!)
Good luck with your sweet peas.
X sunloving

[caroline7758]

I've lost all my autumn sown sweet peas to froat and mice. >:( How soon can I try again?

[manicscousers]

just sowed mine inside  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

When you like if you sow them indoors. I've lost all mine as well.

[shirlton]

This is the first year that I have had to put mine in the GH. It was far too many degrees below to expect them to survive. Spring planted one are just as nice if growing for pleasure.

[reddyreddy]

All those planted last year have died  :'( Will plant more indoors today.

[Digitalis]

I'm just about to sow my sweet peas this week.

[laurieuk]

Since planting mine we have had snow and some very hard frost but they still look ok. They are hardy unless we grow them too warm and then put them out. Normally provided the roots are planted they will stand any frost.

This is the first year that I have had to put mine in the GH. It was far too many degrees below to expect them to survive. Spring planted one are just as nice if growing for pleasure.

[sunloving]

Mine do great after sowing in spring and soon catch up just like all later sown seeds.

I also tend to sow a new set each month as they get mildewed and short stemed as they age and so having a series of ever younger rows means that you can let the first lot go to seed to save fat and ripe seed for next year once they are past thier best and keep on cutting gorgeous bunches until the frosts. I also means that you can be starting the autumn digging over whislt still having sweet peas scenting the house and plot.

x sunloving

[macmac]

Mine do great after sowing in spring and soon catch up just like all later sown seeds.

I also tend to sow a new set each month as they get mildewed and short stemed as they age and so having a series of ever younger rows means that you can let the first lot go to seed to save fat and ripe seed for next year once they are past thier best and keep on cutting gorgeous bunches until the frosts. I also means that you can be starting the autumn digging over whislt still having sweet peas scenting the house and plot.

x sunloving
what a good idea  :)

[laurieuk]

From autumn sowing I pick my first flowers chelsea week apppox. May 23/24.  Two years ago our son got married and my wife did all the flowers because they wanted mauve and white sweetpeas. By layering  three times we still had flowers for the wedding  on August 10th, but it was a lot of work.

[gwynnethmary]

I planted some on 12th Feb and put them on a sunny windowsill, some in loo roll tubes and the rest in coir pots.  Those in the loo roll tubes popped up after 8 days,whilst those in the pots are just beginning to show- what explanation could there be for this?

[laurieuk]

It could be different varieties but more likely the ones in pots have been too wet. I sow about ten seeds in a half 5 " pot and then single them out as soon as I can handle them. I find if I do one seed per small pot they rot .

[gwynnethmary]

They're the same variety-maybe with the larger quantity of compost in a pot they are wetter- they're starting to pop up now though.  Those I planted in the Autumn are struggling on valiently outside, in their pots inside a blue plastic box with a clear lid.  It'll be intersting to see which ones do better.