I LOVE sweet peas and want to plant some. I do NOT think they'll do well here over the summer as it stays very hot for a long, long time, but wonder if I could plant them in very early spring and get a month or so out of them. Any thoughts? I read the comments in "plant files" and think I might could pull it off, but I'd love to learn from others' mistakes first!
You can't get much cottageyer than sweet peas. I'm thinking an A-frame trellis.
Thanks!
Opinions on sweet peas?
I have failed many times with sweet peas, but love them so much I've kept on trying. This year, for the first time I had pretty sweet peas!! They don't like summer heat, making them tricky here too. I started the seed in plantable pots I made of newspaper (peat pots would be fine too), because they don't like to be transplanted. I started them indoors in January, and moved them to the cold frame when they were about 3-4" tall. At the end of March I set them out with lots of compost, and they bloomed in June with Foxtail lilies. They were pretty through June, but July's heat gave them crispy edges- they lived, but were ugly. This year I think I'll start some a bit earlier, maybe get a longer display.
For your zone I would think winter-early spring would be the best time to grow them. I think you'd want to aim for full bloom at least a month before hot weather. When is that in your zone?
I could'nt agree more about the cottagy effect of sweet peas. Guess that's why I've kept trying with them, lol.
Neal
I would start them now, I know I'm a little south of you but I direct sow them in November. They are already 4" tall and will start blooming in the early spring. You could always do both and see which way works better for you.
Love those sweet peas!
I'm glad to see this question posted. I'm not experienced with sweet peas but love them. Since this will be my first year to try them I thought I would experiment. I planted a few seeds a week ago in a container as if I'm wintersowing. They have all germinated but haven't gotten their true leaves yet. I have also direct sown several seeds. They have not germinated
We will be getting our first blast of freezing air this year in the next couple of days and I plan to give these seedlings a little extra protection. It will be interesting to see if they survive the cold. If not, I'll progressively sow some more later.
They do say "cottage" don't they? Bridgidlily, the A-frame trellis sounds good. Will you make it or do you already have one? Susan
I have them growing NOW, they aren't summer heardy here but do great in the cooler weather. We're expecting frost Wed and/or Thurs. so I'm going to cover mine and hope for the best.
Jude
That's what I was thinking -- if I lived in Texas, I'd sow them in October and have them bloom all winter. I think they are totally frost hardy...down to maybe 20 degrees? I only say that because it's an old tradtion to sow them on St. Patrick's Day, and we get down to 15 degrees easily between Mar 17 and May 1 (at least once!) and they are up and going (but I'm not sure if they're blooming).
Suzy
I have a perennial kind that comes back every yr-purple-ish and I have grown the annual ones too in many colors!
I may have a white perennial one too-we shall see come spring!
I didn't get them in in Oct, grrrr, so Nov was a little late. They're only about 6" which is why I covered them last night. They're fine this morning as is everything else that I covered last night.
BTW, I lucked out in finding a yardsale where someone had tons of fabric bought and not used. Yards and yards in one piece, ugly but long and 60" wide. I bought it all and got many odd looks for my choices. Stripes of colors nobody would ever wear so now my plants are adorned with it. It sure brightened up the yard last night. I'm waiting for flowers and got multi colored fabric first. lol
Thanks, everybody! Gemini, a month before hot weather down here could be January! You never can tell. It was summer in March this past year, and there have been years (very very few) it was a tad cool in early June. Illoquin, I had no idea they were that cold-hardy! And fly-girl, we really have about the same weather. I think what I'll do is direct sow some now and put a few in peat pots just in case and see what happens.
ohsusanna, I'm making an A-frame by tying bamboo poles together and covering them with netting. I'll take a picture. It should be easy, and in my camping equipment I have tent stakes which should keep it from flying off. I'm not sure I could drive the poles themselves far enough into the ground, and I hesitate to stick them in concrete for several reasons.
As soon as it gets hot, I'll pull them up, I guess. :( And plant luffas! Hey, this is getting good...
Okay, gang! Now I'm excited! I guess I'll have to take a sick day tomorrow.
sniff, sniff... hack, hack... oh my aching something or other...
brig, you're looking a little under the weather heehee
That A frame sounds cool and will look great with sweet peas. Show us a pic when they get going, it will be pretty.
Brigidlily, those sweetpeas will look great crawling up the A frame. I'll look forward to seeing the pictures.
Looks like you have about 24 hours before cooler air hits your neck of the woods. Get well soon!
Oh, thanks -- I'm sure this dreadful illness will only last a day or two.
I'm psychic that way. ;)
Built the A-frame last night and came on in to work today. I may be sick tomorrow, though...
I'm having some trouble stabilizing it, but I'll work the kinks out and let y'all know how I did it.
Just went outside and it's CCCCCOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLDDDDDD!
Brigidlily-
I never could grow sweet peas until I figured out the right time to sow them.
I saw them at a neighbors house, and asked her 'secret' . She said every year(here in Texas) the sweet peas should be sown when the winter rye is sown. Whenever you start to see rye grass for sale, and being spread on lawns & businesses, it is time for planting sweet peas.
It is usually when the weather starts shaking up, and being hot/cold/hot/cold...This is usually in mid to late October here, but you can sometimes get away with planting them as late as early November.
-T
Well, I'm going to try sowing them in December. If it works, great, if not, oh, well! I'll save a few seeds to plant in Feb. as well, and get some more over the summer and sow in October.