Sweet peas

I love Sweet Peas! I had great success in BC with them - but I haven't been able to get any to grow in Western Massachuesetts. Any ideas how to ensure the seeds will sprout? Should I start the plants early - or just buy tons of seeds and plant them in the ground in spring? (I think most of mine have rotted doing this). I thought sweet peas were supposed to be simple . . .

thanks
Seandor

Seandor,
I found this site helpful in germinating sweet peas. http://www.fragrantgarden.com/getting_started.htm
They really like a steady 55-70 degree temperature range to germinate. If I can grow sweet peas in Texas (they aren't heat tolerant) you should be able to grow them up there.

Soak the seeds overnight in hand-hot water.
This will hasten the germination.

Hi Siggy,

I clicked on that web-site. What a time-saver! The place I had planned to plant the sweet peas is totally wrong. I am trying to think which part of the yard (maybe along the backfence) that gets at least 10 hours of sunshine a day. I might have to grow the sweetpeas in containers . . .

The site also mentioned soaking seeds - but your idea of hand-hot water sounds great, taramark.

Thanks
Seandor

I personally haven't found soaking the seeds to be that helpful. What I do always do is knick the seeds with a toenail clipper. Being carefull to only knick the outside shell. That will greatly increase germination rates.

I ordered container sweet peas from www.reneesgardens.com and they look great (about 5" tall). They are going to get a light freeze tonight but I would be shocked if we get any more freezes this winter. If you are in MA. I would think you would need to wait until your last freeze date to start. I soaked mine in hot water the night before and they came up so easily in the big pot................know there are too many growing in one pot but I don't care.....never grown the container kind.

Thanks bettygail. I went to the site recommended by ziggy. It's terrific! They have lots of different sweet peas - anyway, the site recommends that I start the sweet peas indoors in Feb. and transplant them in April. Apparently, the switch from 'sweet pea' weather to intolerable, hot, humid weather that the plants do not really have time to germinate, grow, and bloom. So I will try that. Apparently, the old fashioned sweetpeas do well in containers and are highly fragrant. Also, there are varieties called "winter elegance" which apparently start blooming 2 weeks earlier than the Spencer variety. So I might try some of those. There are also much shorter varieties specifically for pots.

Michaela

Lathyrus latifolius is the perennial Sweet Pea.

Although they are without scent they are beautiful.

They like to grow in part shade; in fact, mine bloomed in nearly
full shade one summer because of an onery tree branch.

Corinne

Following advice from Ziggy, I ordered seeds from Fragrant Garden. I ordered three colours of "Winter Elegance" Sweetpeas (salmon pink, mid blue, and white) as well as two mixes of "heirloom" sweetpeas (supposedly more fragrant, but with smaller flowers). One mix is primarily blues, the other includes blues, creams, salmon pink, and maroon.

Today I started them. first I made newspaper pots - then yesterday I bought aluminum foil oven dishes at a dollar store (2 for $1). I went to Walmart for potting mix and seed starter, then to a local nursery for gravel (got chipped marble 'cause it was cheapest).

Last night I soaked the seeds starting with hot water.

This morning, I filled each little paper pot primarily with potting soil - but since it also contains fertilizer, I made the last quarter just seed starter. I didn't know if the fertilizer would burn new roots. Altogether, there are almost 100 little pots planted. If I get 20 strong plants, I will be happy.

Anyway, the aluminum foil pans are enclosed with two plastic bags (to ensure the marble chips do not puncture the aluminum foil - my husband doesn't like when my plant things drip lol ) Then I put in the chipped marble for drainage. Then the little pots sit on the little rocks. The picture shows what the set up looks like :-)

Wish me luck!

I wish you tons of luck.

Be sure the newspaper pots don't get too wet, or you will have one big sog!
Been there.

Corinne