Learn to grow sweet peas effortlessly! Follow our guide for planting, caring, and achieving a stunning display of fragrant blooms in your garden.
How to Grow Sweet Peas:
Sweet peas are easy and rewarding plants to cultivate, providing an array of beautiful hues in just weeks! Perfect for picking, these fragrant blooms make the garden bloom with fragrance. Grow them either indoors in pots or outside on frames for stunning displays; plant near seating areas so you can smell their sweet fragrance while relaxing outdoors; or pick some for the vase; just a small handful can bring instant aroma into any room!
How to Grow Sweet Peas at Home:
Plant out mid-spring and make sure the soil stays well watered – most varieties feature tendrils that attach themselves naturally, although some will require additional support or tie in.
Start feeding sweet peas with high potash fertilizer (like tomato food) as soon as their flowers appear, as regular picking encourages more flowers to form and fill your vase. Sweet peas are great flowers to pick, easy to grow, and come in an array of beautiful colors that you can train up a frame for a beautiful display in either pots or soil. Plant some near seating areas so you can smell their perfume while relaxing outdoors, or pick some for the vase. Even small amounts can fill any room with their wonderful fragrance!
How to Plant and Care for Sweet Peas at Home:
Sow sweet pea seeds either in autumn or spring. Once the seedlings reach 10 cm tall, pinch out their tips to promote bushy growth and plant out in mid-spring after well until the roots are established. Most varieties have tendrils that self-cling, though certain sweet pea varieties require additional support, such as tying in.
As soon as flower buds appear, begin feeding sweet peas with high potash fertilizer (such as tomato food ). Regular picking helps encourage more flowers to form so keep picking those beautiful blooms for your vase.
A place to grow sweet peas: Sweet peas thrive when planted in an open and sunny position in soil with good drainage but moisture-retaining capabilities. Potted sweet peas work especially well – just use an excellent peat-free compost that contains slow-release fertilizer for best results.
How to Sow Sweet Peas:
Growing sweet peas from seed is easy in either autumn or spring; make sure that if sowing in autumn, there is enough space for them to flourish until spring comes around if sowing in autumn.
Sweet pea seeds tend to germinate quickly and easily, but you can speed up the process by nicking their seed coat with a knife, taking care to avoid the eye area. After doing this, sow in 9-cm (3 at a time) root trainers or trays, or sow into quality compost such as peat-free mix and store in either a cold frame or greenhouse environment.
Planting Sweet Peas:
Sweet peas should be planted from late May onwards once all risk of frost has passed. Harden off your plants by placing them outside during the day and returning them indoors at night to a frost-free space, and pinch out their tips when they reach 10 cm for bushier growth.
Purchase sweet pea plug plants in the spring. Place them in fertile soil beneath an arbor made of bamboo canes for support, and water them regularly until their growth begins. Space sweet pea plugs or pots approximately 20 cm apart without worrying about individual plant division.
Start using a high potash fertilizer such as tomato food when flowers begin to appear, as regular picking will encourage more flowers while helping prevent seeds from setting. Be sure to water any sweet peas growing in pots during times of extreme dry weather.
Problem-solving: Young sweet pea plants can be damaged by slug and snail damage. Beer traps, copper bands, or the biological control.
Saving Sweet Pea Seeds:
Sweet pea seeds should be collected beginning in early September by leaving their pods on their plants until their colour changes from white to a paper bag hue, collecting on a dry day when ready, removing them from their pods, and storing them in paper bags in an airtight environment until needed for sowing.
FAQs
Q1. How do you grow sweet peas step by step?
Grow your sweet peas at home by following steps:
- Soak the seeds in water overnight.
- Plant in rich and well-drained soil.
- Water regularly and provide support.
- Pinch tips for bushier growth.
Q2. What is the best fertilizer for sweet peas?
Use a fertilizer with equal parts:
- Nitrogen,
- Phosphorus, and
- Potassium.