Growing Sweet Peas - Page 2

The same thing happened with the ones I have grown in a large tub but the ones in the ground are still producing longish stems.

I'll be buying some sweetpea seeds this afternoon and sowing them shortly.  I started this year's ones in February but wanted to give this autumn sowing a go.  

Thank you David. I'll be planting mine in a couple of weeks time then.

I planted my sweet peas early spring this year, but after seeing Monty's trial and other info from this forum having decided to sow some now and then some in the spring.  Mine did ok (apart from the one's my 12 year old daughter pulled up when helping with the weeding!) but I didn't spend much time on them and didn't cut any for the vase.  After reading lots of tips etc I hope to get a better lot for cut flowers next year.

If the sweet peas are sown now, when is germination expected ? That is, do they come through in a few weeks as usual and then just sit dormant as small plants through the rest of winter - or what ?

blueberry77 wrote (see)

If the sweet peas are sown now, when is germination expected ? That is, do they come through in a few weeks as usual and then just sit dormant as small plants through the rest of winter - or what ?

Sweet peas take between 7 & 21 days to germinate, depending on the temperature they are subjected to.

21 days is far preferable to 7 days as the latter indicates being too warm, which may result in straggly plants.

Getting started is a bit of a balancing act, taking advantage while temperatures are still warm enough to germinate the seed and then for cold weather to keep them from putting on growth until late February.

 The nights are starting to get quite cool now, so I will be sowing my seed in my cold greenhouse one day next week.

Thanks David, I've always Spring sown before but lost most of them this year with the weather. Will try Autumn sowing hopefully for a better result

Thanks for the advice David - have you ever grown the dwarf variety Cupid?  I am hoping that the method will still be the same.  Unfortunately I don't have a greenhouse or coldframe so I will be planting into the ground in March.  Fingers crossed. 

Lunarz - I haven't grown 'Cupid' (would that be 'Pink Cupid'?) as I tend to stick to cordon grown varieties.

If you intend to grow your 'Cupid' in pots or containers, you can sow them in situ now. Being extremely hardy they will survive the frost, although they don't like cold biting winds and they will need protection from slugs.

I would say to anyone who doesn't have a coldframe or cold greenhouse, you can still sow directly into the ground in autumn.....just keep in mind the aforementioned slugs & cold winds.

Great - thank you.  I'll try some now and some in March then 

This has to be one of the quietest SP threads I've ever started....Anyway, as Thursday this week is forecast to be wet, I'll probably spend time in the greenhouse sowing my sweet pea seed. 

I think it would probably be  a good time to sow in most parts.The young seedlings should then be established by early November, when hopefully we get some cold weather to slow them down.

That's it, all SP seed sown....if the seedlings surface by Nov 2nd, that's job well done.

David what compost do you use for sowing? Do you add anything?

figrat wrote (see)

How many have you sown David?

Well, I tend to grow preferred varieties rather than mixed collections. I buy these in individual packets containing 10 seeds of each variety and this year I'm growing 17 packets, so I make that 170 seeds.

kate1123 wrote (see)

David what compost do you use for sowing? Do you add anything?

Kate, I prefer to use compost specifically formulated for sowing seed (normally labeled 'seed compost') as this contains very little added nutrients. I use 'John Innes Seed Compost', this is a loam based compost, but other seed composts will do, provided they are sold as 'seed compost'. 

I know some people use multipurpose compost, but IMHO it contains too many nutrients which encourages them to put on too much growth in the early stages......we need them to just mark time from germination until say February, when a dilute feed can be used if necessary.

As you will now understand, I definitely don't add anything.

Seed compost on my shopping list then!

Figrat - this is how mine looked in February & March earlier this year, using JI seed compost:

Thanks David I thought I had better check. Those plants look great.

I hope mine grow as well as yours David. Will toilet roll tubes be ok to plant them in? Or should I get something special?