How To Grow Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas
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Sweet peas are a wonderful addition to any garden. They are bright and colourful and if you choose the right variety, they can be highly scented. They are the sort of plant that you can pick and display indoors, as the more you pick them, the more flowers will grow.

How To Grow Sweet Peas

Growing Sweet Peas

Sowing Sweet Pea Seeds

There are a number of ways to approach how to grow sweet peas and this will depend on the time of year you start to grow them. If you are starting the growing process early in the year, over the winter time, you’ll need to start them off indoors and move them outside as the weather gets warmer.

With sweet peas, you have two generally have two options. You can grow perennials, which are plants that will come back year after year or you can choose annuals. These are plants which complete their lifecycle in one year and you have to regrow them from seed the following year. If you are looking for the ultimate in easy growing, the perennial variety might be your best option, but as with everything that’s a bit easier, the reward isn’t as high. The annual varieties tend to be the highly scented ones.

This year I am growing a scent infusion mix, which is made up of several different varieties, including April in Paris, Fire & Ice and Memories – just to name a few of them.

Sweet Peas - Scent Infusion

I’m going to sow my sweet peas in January, in a propagator, using a seed compost and keep it inside until the seeds germinate. I’ll then move these inside my greenhouse, water regularly and once it’s warm enough I can plant them in my garden.

Sweet peas are climbers, so I have a trellis for them to grow up. I’m also going to give them a head start by planting them in toilet rolls. I know this seems a little odd, but planting them in something like a toilet roll will allow them to grown deep narrow roots, which is ideal for them to thrive. If you haven’t got any toilet rolls to hand, you can choose tall, narrow pots.

Generally, sweet pea seeds will do best if you soak the seeds first, but check how to grow the variety that you have chosen. Soaking them is recommended as they have a tough outer. Once you’ve soaked your seeds overnight in warm water, you should plant them with a good quality seed compost about 1cm deep. Don’t leave them any longer than overnight otherwise they may start to rot. If you are using the toilet roll method, I’d suggest planting just two seeds per toilet roll, for larger containers, you could plant more seeds.

The seeds will probably take about 1 – 2 weeks to germinate.

Planting Out Sweet Peas

Once the plants start to grow and gain momentum, you’ll want to pinch out the tops, just above the leaves. This will encourage the plants to grow side shoots and they’ll become fuller and a bit more robust too.

Once the spring comes around, you can start to acclimatise your sweet peas by placing them outside during the day. Make sure you pop them back into your greenhouse overnight, otherwise the cold will shock them. After a week, you can plant them outside. You’ll need to choose a sunny spot, as they like full sun. Also, remember that sweet peas are climbers, so provide them with stakes, a trellis or obelisk to climb and they’ll race up these in no time. You can tie them to the support using garden twine or sweet pea rings.

How To Grow Sweet Peas

When you are planting them out, you’ll want to make sure the soil you are providing is nutrient-rich, with either fresh compost or manure. You’ll also want to water your plants thoroughly before you transplant them. If you are planting them in the ground, you’ll want to space them about 20 – 30 cm apart, close to the base of the growing support. Once you’ve replanted the sweet peas, make sure you give them a good watering again.

Watering and Feeding Sweet Peas

Sweet peas need a lot of water to thrive. If you’ve planted your sweet peas in the ground, you’ll need to water them every 3 – 4 days. If you’ve planted your sweet peas in pots, you’ll need to water them daily. You can feed them using a tomato feed around once a week. This will help enhance your flowers.

Sweet Peas

You’ll also need to deadhead your sweet peas regularly, because if you don’t, then the rate of flowering will slow down.

Cutting Back Sweet Peas

If you’ve grown a perennial variety, your sweet peas will need cutting back over the winter period. Ideally, this should be done in February. If you’ve grown annuals, you can simply pull out the sweet pea plants and recycle once they have finished flowering at the end of summer. Are you planning on growing sweet peas this year? I’d love to hear what varieties you are planting and what success you’ve had with them.

Buy Sweet Peas

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16 Comments

  1. What a fab giveaway I love sweet pea and they would brighten up my garden

  2. Love sweet peas, grew them for the first time last year, hopefully I will win so I can grow them again this year. Amazing prize….

  3. I’m a novice gardener…well maybe not even that…but I’m determined this year to bring my garden to life…I have a reasonable sized south facing garden and I would love a beautiful scent to rise from my garden 🥰

    1. Everyone has to start somewhere Sunita and we’re all learning as we go along. Your garden sounds perfect for growing some lovely plants this year. Sweet peas will definitely add some scent if you choose the right variety.

  4. I am applying for Yantlet community garden , Yantlet is sheltered housing for the disabled, retired, elderly and over 55,s . The garden is an outlet for those that are housebound to look out from their flats, it is also the centre of the community , people can relax , we also have community outreach for the area too when restrictions allow.

    1. Sounds brilliant Jill. What a nice way to socialise and get some fresh air at the same time.

  5. Might even sucseed this time as usually manage to kill them off

    1. Oh no!I hope you have more success this year Diane.

  6. Lovely

  7. I would love to win for my mum, she was talking about sweet peas yesterday 🙂

    1. Good luck for you for your Mum 🙂

  8. I always struggle to grow sweet peas due to slugs getting them but try each year as I’d love them in my garden. They are such a delicate flower but pack a punch when it comes to fragrance.

    1. Slugs are such a pain. There are a few natural ways to stop them (or at least try to stop them). You can try putting a ring of salt around them or putting out hollowed out citrus fruit nearby to attract them away.

  9. I love sweetpeas but never manage to grow them. Would love another chance!

    1. They are so beauiful and so frangrant if you get the right variety.

  10. Patricia M Shepherd

    My favourite flower is the Sweet Pea. I’m hoping for even more success this year.

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