Growing Sweet Peas

[Missredhead]

mine aren't looking very happy at all

[JennyWrenn]

Jan 20, 2009 20:14:18 GMT farmersboy said:

You too late to get the best ones Jen,they are the ones sown in the autumn

Really - oh dear - i will sow some bought ones as well then cant fail can I

What's up with yours Missy

[farmersboy]

Jan 21, 2009 6:41:20 GMT JennyWrenn said:

Jan 20, 2009 20:14:18 GMT farmersboy said:

You too late to get the best ones Jen,they are the ones sown in the autumn

Really - oh dear - i will sow some bought ones as well then cant fail can I

What's up with yours Missy

I dont think you understood what i meant,im saying that by sowing in the autumn,you get the best results,bigger and better blooms,longer stalks,more blooms per stalk,

Im not saying the ones you have MUST be sown in autumn,they can be sown in spring,so you dont have to buy anymore

[Jasmine]

Jan 20, 2009 22:04:51 GMT Missredhead said:

mine aren't looking very happy at all

Mine have been a dismal failure this year MRH. About 2 came up from my first sowing and about 10 of my second sowing.
I'm going to try again in spring.

[farmersboy]

Where were yours Jas,inside,outside,pots,or ground?

[Jasmine]

They are in big pots in my mini green house that doesn't have a door (it ripped off in the wind!). The only strange thing is I did everything the same way I did it the year before - soaked the seeds, same size pot, same place to over winter them. I'm going to plant them out next autumn - where I want them to grow.

[oldmoleskins]

Jan 20, 2009 20:14:18 GMT farmersboy said:

You too late to get the best ones Jen,they are the ones sown in the autumn

A bit unhelpful FB - and contentious. In fact, a load of b@llocks. Exhibition-quality ones are quite likely to be Spring-sown.

OM.

[farmersboy]

Thats your opinion OM,but ive grown both,and in my opinon my autumn sown have always been streets ahead of my spring sown ones,and judgeing by some other posts on here,im not alone in my thinking

[oldmoleskins]

It was the dismissive "too late to get the best ones" that jarred, FB - as an opinion, it's pretty assertive and might put some folk off...

For what it's worth,
spring sowing (bit of a misnomer: late winter through to February, March at a push) means you and the plants benefit from the lengthening days and generally easier conditions - and even if you don't have the first blooms, you'll have them sometime.
It's easier for those unable or unwilling to manage plants through the winter, or who forget to plant them in autumn.
It's probably better for those wanting exhibition bloom for late shows.
If you're in the North, facing harsher winters and poor light quality for most of the winter months when they'd just stand still, it may be more rewarding way of joining in. It may be the only way of joining in.

Wherever you are, if you've got some seed, bung it in sometime soon.

Just my opinion.


OM.

[farmersboy]

Jan 21, 2009 7:57:32 GMT farmersboy said:

Jan 21, 2009 6:41:20 GMT JennyWrenn said:

Really - oh dear - i will sow some bought ones as well then cant fail can I

What's up with yours Missy

I dont think you understood what i meant,im saying that by sowing in the autumn,you get the best results,bigger and better blooms,longer stalks,more blooms per stalk,

Im not saying the ones you have MUST be sown in autumn,they can be sown in spring,so you dont have to buy anymore

Well if you had read my next post,which is the one above this that i have brought forward,you will see that i said ,"THEY CAN BE SOWN IN SPRING" i was just meaning that,imo,best results are obtained by sowing in autumn.
I look upon Spru as being the SP king on this board,and he sows in autumn

[Spruance]

There are various ways of growing sweet peas, some good and some less so but not necessarily bad. Naturally everyone thinks that their way is best but that is not to say that it is the only way to do it, especially if you have tried the alternative and found it to work just as well.

I favour growing sweet peas in the autumn because I have a large and otherwise empty unheated greenhouse which in my opinion represents an ideal growing environment for the young plants. The early sowing also produces robust plants with a strong root system which means that even when planted out at the end of March they will still grow away strongly and will produce their first flowers in mid to late May dependent on weather conditions.

I grow a lot of sweet peas, usually around two hundred plants and when transferred into individual three inch pots they take up a lot of room. This isn't a problem with overwintered plants but would be (for me) from a spring sowing as it would limit my ability to accommodate my summer bedding and tomato plants.

There has been some recent debate as to whether autumn or spring sowings produce better flowers, but again in my own experience sowing time has little to do with it. What does have a bearing is ground preparation as sweet peas are very greedy plants and need a well prepared soil if they are to thrive. Up until last year I had grown my main run of plants in the same soil for three years running and the 2007 crop was so poor that I seriously considered moving to another part of the garden. So last winter, as an experiment, l dug out the soil along the entire main run of thirty feet (9.14 metres) and dug in almost my entire stock of well rotted garden compost. This had a marked effect as last year's crop of sweet peas was the best for quite some time.

So in conclusion, is spring too late to sow sweet peas? Well yes it is, if you happen to be a certain Mr Matthewman or the like, and want to have a good display at Chelsea between 19th and 23rd of May 2009. For everyone else, it is of course perfectly ok to opt for spring sown plants. Not everyone has the space to overwinter plants and unless you are expecting a team of RHS inspectors to come round and mark your plants I don't think that the quality of bloom will be a particular consideration.

The one advantage I have found is that spring sown plants are still providing a ready supply of cut flowers after the autumn sown plants have gone over.

So unless you are a serious grower looking to maybe win a prize at a local or national show I don't think that there is any advantage between autumn and spring sowings.

[JennyWrenn]

I had some good results from sown seeds when we did the sweet pea trials and cant remember when I sowed them?

They were think American ? and Fantasy ?

I did know what you meant FB but time went by and I still hadnt sown them - but I will do on Sunday - PROMISE and will let you see the results compared with yours ;D

[farmersboy]

Thats a deal Jen,mine will be out in May,in fact i could bring you the first bunch up in May ;D

[JennyWrenn]

They dont last long tho do they they are of course my favourite flower next to Iris and I never have any of those in my garden either - eaten away by goodness knows what

Going off thread a little - Amo made a comment about my clay soil - well I am trying but all the manure I dug in last year has been dug out again - saw it tonight - what a mess - all over my path - cats? cant see any signs of "anything"
left

[Dutchy]

Black birds digging for worms and slugs.
Most will still be in the garden though Jenny.
Just brush it back in and feel good about having helped your wildlife

[Ladygardener]

these i took in the pouring rain tonight (that's why I have flu I guess, doing daft things) but i wanted to show how well they're doing.

[Jasmine]

They look so healthy LNG!

[Ladygardener]

Thank you Jasmine, they're healthy and hardy and I see that the extras that I sowed in the rolls of those which did'nt come up are now germinating too. ;D

[farmersboy]

They are looking very good lng,nice healthy colour.

Sorry to hear you have flu,you mustnt go out takeing pics in the rain

[JennyWrenn]

Jan 21, 2009 21:16:38 GMT Dutchy said:

Black birds digging for worms and slugs.
Most will still be in the garden though Jenny.
Just brush it back in and feel good about having helped your wildlife

Yes I do have blackbirds Dutchy - one has taken over my new bird table - he has such difficulty in balancing but does so in the end


I hope they dont dig in the containers where I will be sowing my sweet peas on Sunday

[farmersboy]

I think they will Jen,cant you put some netting over the top

[Ladygardener]

Thank you FB, they've certainly been exposed to the elements this year.
I had to go for a bath anyhow so did'nt mind getting a bit cold and wet.
JW, you could put some plastic or anything over the top until they germinate to keep the blackbirds off maybe.

[nightowl]

LNG, they look great! Never had much luck with them myself.

Are those living outside now?? Not too cold for them?

[Ladygardener]

Morning Nightowl,thank you, they've always been outside, I sow them outside on the windowledge and they live there until I plant them. We treat our sp mean here in NI, makes them grow big and strong.

[Dr Bill]

Well my autumn sown sweet peas have not done very well at all. I am going to sow some more in February. We are plagued by slugs and snails so I will start them off in pots in the cool greenhouse (ie frost free). Having said that, would they be better exposed to the elements? Or in a cold frame? I love sweet peas and am very frustrated that they don't seem to do very well for me. Any advice gratefully received.

[Spruance]

By frost-free do you mean heated Dr Bill?

If so I would be more inclined to sow under cover in a cold frame as too much heat early on will tend to produce leggy plants. If you are concerned about slugs just sit the trays on a bed of sharp sand or similar.

[JennyWrenn]

Thank you Lady and FB -

[Ladygardener]

Dr Bill I'm sorry to hear you're having problems with your sweetpea, they are one of my favourite flowers and could'nt imagine my own garden without them. Now everyone has their own way of doing things and you know I live in Northern Ireland and we're not known for our dry or balmy climate ;D but I've never sown sp in a greenhouse or cold frame and I've not had problems getting them to germinate and grow strong by growing them outside from sowing to planting. My only advice would be to treat them hard and they will grow strong, slugs and snails notwithstanding (spruance's advice with the sharp sand should help there) they are very hardy plants. I've sown in both seed compost and ordinary multipurpose and to be honest ordinary compost seems be slightly better. To sow them in your pots sounds fine so long as they're a good size as the sp like to make long roots and if they can be protected from getting soaked by the rain then they will do better. I do so hope you get some success. I might add here that for years I sowed my sweetpea in very early spring and it's only been in recent years that I've started with autumn sowing.
Good luck.

[maggy]

Well this is the first time Ive tried to grow my own sp! they are about three" and just showing first set of leaves, they are in the cool conservatory, but reading back I will move them into the cold greenhouse to-morrow I darent put them outside as I know the snails will have them.

[Spruance]

Last Thursday, I finally managed to take the tops out of my sweet peas. They didn't look amiss bearing in mind that they are still in their original trays but one step at a time as they say.

The ones in pots are less advanced than I had anticipated, so I don't think I will bother with that next year.

This is how things looked prior to the haircut....

Potted plants.


In trays.


Single tray in close up.


The object of the exercise is to remove the main growing tip from the plant to encourage it to produce replacement shoots. If these replacement shoots are also removed they will also be replaced. This process also helps the plant to develop a strong root system. I tend to continue this process up to around one month before planting out and then leave the plants to their own devices. I should perhaps also point out that under normal circumstances I would have transferred the plants to their individual three inch (7.5cm) pots by now but that simply hasn't been possible (for me) so far.

In the following photo I have removed the growing tip from half of the plants and have drawn a line across the top of the cut half to emphasise the difference in height between these and the other plants.



I used a pair of sharp scissors but fingernails work just as well, as would a sharp knife. You should aim to cut the stem just above a pair of leaves as it is from the leaf joint where the new shoots will develop.

This is the full tray after cutting. As a guide, the dibber at extreme front left is around 4 inches (10cm) high.


Here are the other trays after cutting.


Finally, and with a bit of luck, this is how things will look in a couple of months time (photo taken 14.03.07)...