Just sown my sweet peas.

[Ladygardener]

They look brilliant chuckles, all lovely and healthy and so many of them. Your garden will have so much scent. ;D

[Spruance]

dutchy said:

Looks like you will have a regular forest of sweet pea this summer.
How many did you sow?

There are around 200 plants there Dutchy. I always sow too many.

No doubt they will all fit in somewhere.

[Chuckles]

ladynovicegardener said:

They look brilliant chuckles, all lovely and healthy and so many of them. Your garden will have so much scent. ;D

Wish they were mine LNG reckon you meant Spruances SP's (greenwithenvysmilie) ;D

[Dutchy]

spruance said:

dutchy said:

Looks like you will have a regular forest of sweet pea this summer.
How many did you sow?

There are around 200 plants there Dutchy. I always sow too many.

No doubt they will all fit in somewhere.

In case you can't find enough space you can always bublewrap them and send them off to me
MssK's is still very much a blank canvas. ;D
Like chuck green with env... no it is greed me thinks ;D

[Ladygardener]

oops of course I ment Spruance, I'm hopeless sometimes. ;D

[purplejulia]

Here are photos taken this afternoon of my sweetpeas in my mini greenhouse. Most were sown between mid to the end of October




PJ

[Ladygardener]

looking really good pj, do you pinch them out?

[purplejulia]

ladynovicegardener said:

looking really good pj, do you pinch them out?

Hello LNG
Yes I have pinched them out a couple of times but they are still a bit leggy. I am going to keep them in my mini greenhouse for another couple months, I think.
PJ

[Dutchy]

PJ those look good.
I had a peek at mine sitting safely in the cold frame.
The leggy one is still leggy but seems to be getting leves.
Of the 2 small ones one seems to have lost its head
Not a clue what happened. 7 are still not showing.
I wonder If they will come up later or should be thrown away.

But I dare take the stand that sweetpeas should not be sown at Christmas ;D

[Deleted]

i never knew you could grow them already. i have some that i will grow in march but i will do them early next year like you all have

[farmersboy]

Blacky,sweet peas are hardy things,i sow mine straight in to the garden in early Nov,then apart from hoeing out a few weeds from around them,forget about them till they need something to climb up,in about April.

[Rosefriend]

Can some one tell me when I can sow some more sweetpeas please?

Is Feb too early if I leave them in the mini GH?

RF

[farmersboy]

Hi RF,no i dont think it would be too early,as long as they dont get too warm,or they will get too leggy,after they get about 2ins high,i would put them in a cold frame.


These are mine sown in the open,27thOct.

[Rosefriend]

Thanks FB - OK - well I will certainly have a go .....no cold frame and the mini GH's that I have are all on the terrace at the moment (South) - it heats up of course......BUT if we really got a cold spell, it could save what is in it.

I don't think (famous last words) that we will get a winter this year but lets face it we have had Snow and Ice in April/May....even June!!

I did wonder if I could sow half the sweetpea seeds early (ish) and then sow the rest in situ later - then if all of them survived then I would have longer lasting SP's, - and if I lost the first lot, then I would at least have the second.....oooh it does get complicated on this side of the water!!

RF

[farmersboy]

Thats a good idea RF,some early,some later,done it myself sometimes,some in Nov, some in March,but the Nov ones always come out the best,longer stalks,bigger blooms.

[Dutchy]

Gosh FB your sweetpeas are so far on the go already sigh.
I got the Beeb gardening newsletter today.
Thought maybe more would like to read what they say about sweet peas and see Sarah Raven build a not too bad at all Sweet pea archway ;D
Might give that one a go myself....

www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_sweetpea.shtml#growing_tips

[farmersboy]

Thanks for that Dutchy,very interesting,i see they recomend planting in pots in the Autumn,afraid i go against that,i always plant straight into open ground,but i suppose that differs from where people live

[Dutchy]

Essex is mild and not soaking wet then I take it.
Not a clue on UK weather and the likes.

[farmersboy]

Quite mild,Dutchy, coldest we have had so far this winter is about -5,and the village i live in,is in the record books,as the dryest place in the UK.

[Dutchy]

The dryest eh?
Must be hard when we get a real hot summer.
You'll get muscles the size of an elephant from hauling buckets of water.

[farmersboy]

LOL i use a hosepipe

[Dutchy]

What? No hosepipe bans in Essex?

[farmersboy]

No,we havent had a ban for years now,but i think countys around us have.

[Dutchy]

Lucky you then.

[farmersboy]

Very lucky

[Jonah]

My sweet peas are about 6-7 inches high. Don't know if this has already been asked, but can someone tell me how far down I should go with the pinching out?

[Dutchy]

Jan 13, 2008 18:02:07 GMT Spruance said:

Last season's sweet peas seemed to grow too strongly to the extent that they were almost too big when they were planted out.

I have countered that this time around by sowing them a fortnight later, at the beginning of November.

This is how they looked this afternoon.

Firstly before pinching out the growing tips.....



and secondly after their haircut....

Does this post help you?

[Jonah]

It certainly does Dutchy, thank you.

I'll pinch a bit more. ;D

[Rosefriend]

It helps me as well - only one thing - why don't my sweetpeas grow straight upwards - they are wonky from the moment they emerge.

RF

[farmersboy]

Hi RF,sounds to me that they are too weak,which is coursed by,not enough light,and or,too much heat,and they have grown up spindley.