Sweet peas can be sown from November until March under cover. Soak your seeds overnight in tepid water, sow four seeds in a 9cm pot, and keep them under cover to be planted out in Spring. You can also direct sow them into the ground in April or May, but they will need protection from slugs and snails.
Transplanting
Plant out your seedlings once the risk of frost has passed. It’s best to harden off young plants for 3-5 days to acclimatise; you can do this by covering them with fleece overnight once planted or by leaving the modules outside during the day. Make sure you have good supports, around 1.5-2 metres, for your sweet peas to clamber up. Plant them out at 25 x 25 cm spacing.
Plant Care
Sweet peas can be pinched out at around 10 cm to encourage bushy growth (although it’s not essential). Give them a little water during dry spells and help guide them back towards the supports you built. Other than that, keep picking the flowers, and they will keep coming.
Challenges
Sweet peas need protection against slugs and snails when young. Check regularly for aphids. Ensure there is enough airflow to reduce the risk of downy mildew.
Harvest
Sweet peas will start to flower in early summer and will continue throughout the season if you keep picking the blooms. The stems will get shorter as the plants age. Use secateurs, as the stems are fibrous and don’t snap off easily. Once the plant starts making seeds, it will stop producing as many flowers. If you want more blooms, remove all seed pods and deadhead regularly.
Culinary Ideas
Do not eat sweet peas; they are toxic. The seed pods look like tiny pea pods, so it would be easy to think they are edible, but they contain Aminopronprionitrile, which is toxic to consume.
Seed Saving
Select the best plants and do not harvest flowers or deadhead from them; slim pods will form and start to dry on the plant. If you leave the plant in situ, these pods will crack open in spirals and shed their seeds in situ. Collect the seeds once the pods are dry, brittle, and brown. Spread them out for a week in a cool, dry place and store them for up to 4 years.
Beautiful delicate multicoloured blooms opening creamy green and progressing through pink to pale mauve. This Fred’s favourite sweet pea variety. The colour show when they are in full bloom is no less than spectacular. Each flower head is a rainbow of different colours, and the smell is intoxicating!
(Approximate seed count – 23)
One of the oldest and most popular sweet pea varieties with pink and white flowers and a fragrant scent. Painted Lady is bi-coloured and sweet scenting with delicate pink and creamy white flowers. It is one of the oldest sweet pea varieties and has been grown in England for centuries. It makes a great cut flower and is a delight for every garden.
A beautiful and highly productive sweet pea producing an abundance of delicate cream blooms. This is Ronja’s favourite sweet pea of 2023, producing a huge amount of incredible blooms, the performance was incredible and beautiful in its simplicity. The scent of the flowers wafting through the field in July brought a very special feeling to the patch and we were sad to see the blooms go. Luckily they were followed by lots of plump seed pods which we were equally excited about as now we can offer this variety to you!
(Approximate seed count – 23)
A striking flake variety with maroon-grey speckles on a white background. Nimbus is a real show-stopper variety producing a mass of bicolour blooms on very long stems. The petal edges have a dark maroon strip and their scent is delicious. Definitely a must-have variety.
(Approximate seed count – 23)
A sweet pea relative used as a filler in flower arrangements, with delicate green foliage and small blue flowers. Azureus produces an abundance of delicate and elegant green foliage with feathery tendrils. The flowers are small and odourless, and while the stems are too small to be cut as individual stems, the buds on the cut branches will continue to flower for a week or more if placed in a vase of water.
Very easy to grow and can survive drought conditions.
(Approximate seed count – 23)
A long-stemmed sweet pea variety producing delicate blooms in a peach-blush. Castlewellan’s blooms are sweetly scented and the plants have a long flowering season and a vigorous growing habit. Perfect for cutting with a vase life of up to 5 days.
(Approximate seed count – 15)
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