![]() They like a sunny spot, but gentle shade is fine. Plant them a few inches apart in humus-rich soil. If you haven’t grown your Sweet Peas from seed, why not buy a tray of young plants ready to go in the ground. At this point, pinch out the tip of each plant above a pair of leaves to encourage side shoots to develop. As each seedling grows, so do its roots, to the point where they begin to show from the base of the tube, a sure sign that you have strong and healthy plants. I then stand a dozen or so tubes in a half size seed tray and cover with a small piece of fleece to retain warmth and moisture. You can, of course, buy special root trainers, designed to do just that, but cardboard toilet roll tubes work just as well and I find are far less fiddly to fill when it comes to filling with compost. Sweet Peas produce long roots in order to take up moisture and nutrients from the soil so it is important to encourage the development of a strong root system as the plants grow. ![]() ![]() The importance of encouraging strong roots Once the seeds have swelled and begun to shoot, sow in good seed compost. Some gardeners recommend nicking the seed with a sharp knife to encourage germination but popping the seed into a plastic box lined with damp kitchen roll and putting it in warm place for a day or two seems to work just as well and should encourage most of the seeds to germinate. Sweet Pea seeds are like tiny cannonballs and just as hard. I used to sow Sweet Pea seed in November but found that the developing plants became leggy unless kept in a very cool spot – my cold frame, the perfect place until mice discovered the young plants and had a mid-winter feast! This year, I sowed the seed in January which worked better, the sturdy little plants ready to go into the ground in late-April. Sowing Sweet Pea seedįor best results and a long flowering season, sow the seed during winter months so that the plants are ready to go into the ground at the earliest opportunity. ![]() With good soil, regular watering and some kind of supportive structure to climb, the humble little plants will soon reward you with a stunning show of flowers, brightening a dull corner or as the centrepiece in a bed or border. Sweet Peas: quintessential cottage garden flowers and a favourite with allotment gardeners, these wonderful flowers reward us with their myriad of colours and dainty petals, but chiefly with their heavenly scent! Sweet Peas are easy to grow from seed, to be planted out in late spring when the risk of frost has passed.
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