Time to grow next years Sweet Peas
Posted:15 October 2011
This has been a fantastic year for sweet peas, we’ve been picking them since the end of June and here we are in mid-October and there are still plenty left for a few bunches before we finally pull the plants out of the ground!
Now is also a really good time to start your next year’s sweet peas, so here is our growing guide:
- you could sow your seeds next March, however we prefer to sow anytime from October until Christmas, (growing sweet peas over winter will produce stronger, more robust plants)
- sow two seeds to a pot we usually use card toilet-roll tubes or long thin pots as sweet-peas really like a long, cool root run (as do all plants in the Leguminaceae family)
- push seeds in to about 1” below the surface of multi-purpose compost and water in well
- you can cover them with newspaper to keep the light out if you have a heated propagator this can speed up germination but we don’t usually bother – they always germinate really well with a bit of warmth, fingers crossed, from the sun at this time of year!
- mice love the seed and could easily eat your whole crop overnight (!), so if you’re troubled by mice we suggest you soak the seeds in liquid paraffin, or for a more organic solution use seaweed fertilizer or lay holly leaves on top of the pots
- check for germination every day. Once the seedlings appear, keep them cool at about 5 degrees centigrade this promotes root and not stem growth. A cold greenhouse, or cold frame is ideal, but your plants will be fine in a light potting shed
- when there are three or four pairs of leaves, pinch out the leader (the growing tip) using your finger and thumb. This will reduce the height of the plant and encourage side shoots making the plant bushier.
- try not to molly-coddle your plants too much – growing them on ’hard’ will help them to be much tougher plants and will also be less susceptible to slug damage. Keep them in a cold frame, greenhouse or sheltered spot until next March when they can be planted out
We have some fantastic cultivars of sweet pea available at The Garden House, including L. Mattucana, the original sweet pea and quite special. Come along on Friday between 3pm and 6pm and we can show you how we grow ours.
Our sweet peas are £2.00 for 15 seeds. We also have the following varieties for sale:
Angela Ann – attractive almond pink sweet pea on a white back ground – it won the National Sweet Pea Societies Clay Cup in 1993.
Beaujolais – truly beautiful lightly scented flower with large rich deep burgundy maroon colour
Elizabeth Taylor – large, clear mauve flowers with wavy petals, heavily scented
Charlie’s Angel – outstanding blue overlaid lavender and very good for cutting. Large blooms and classic sweet-pea fragrance
Geranium Pink – slightly scented salmon pink blooms
Claire Elizabeth – relatively large, scented white flowers, slightly ruffed with pink edge picotee. Flowers age to darker shades.
Cupani sometimes known as the original sweet pea, the oldest known sweet pea and is thought to have been sent to England in 1699 by Sicilian monk Francisco Cupani. Cupani still bears its original characteristics of delicate bicolour blooms and intense perfume
Diamond Jubilee –pure white flowers grown in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Come over to The Garden House on Friday, 3-6pm, and find out more!
Location: The Garden House, 5 Warleigh Road, Brighton BN1 4NT.