Sweet pea flower seeds

I just purchased a packet of Burpee sweet pea seeds. The packet says nothing about starting them indoors, as most of the seed packets do. Have any of you tried starting them indoors? Also, it says it will grow to 15 ft. I don't have a fence nor a trellis, so I shouldn't have bought them since I don't have anything for them to climb (except a tree), but I've always loved the little flowers. It's the first seed that I've purchased that says to plant 2 inches deep. Any advice?

I started some indoors about 2 weeks ago and they are already about a foot tall. (Pic below) I didn't plant them wuite that deep since they were in peat pellets. I transferred them into the 6" peat pots last night, 4 in each pot. They are still doing fine. If they don't make it, I will just direct sow some since they grow so fast. They seem pretty hardy though, I think they will be OK.

Jennifer

You can find cheap trellises at Home Depot, etc...or if you don't have anywhere that a trellis would make sense, you can get tomato cages or the bamboo teepee things that they sell for growing peas & beans on and stand that up in the middle of the garden and let them grow up those.

In your climate though I'm not sure if starting them now is the best idea--they're more of a cool season plant and they don't do very well once it gets hot so I wonder if you'll have time to enjoy them before it gets too hot for them? Hopefully someone who lives near you will know whether it is too late or not--I suspect it might be but I don't know for sure.

The other issue you might run into is the length of their roots. We had a conversation about this on the Cottage Gardening forum - evidently they get very long roots, to the point where it was suggested to start them in paper towel tubes to allow the roots to stretch downwards far enough.

No real experience here, only what I have read!

you may want to wait and plant them in the fall when its cooler. I have planted only the trailing variety before. I just stick a pencil in the dirt, drop a few seeds in and then pat my finger over the hole to cover them up, never paid much attention to how deep, but I dont think it was ever two inches! I've never started them indoors, just plant them in hanging pots outside and the have always done fine in my area.

for a trellis you can just grab a couple of sticks (or thin bamboo from gardening store) and fashion your own teepee -just stick them in the ground and then tie them together at the top with twine or garden tape :-)

All these answers have been very helpful! I love your ideas for making a trellis. I also think they would be very pretty in a hanging basket. I had always heard they were a cool weather flower. That is why I read the package so carefully. It said to sow in early spring, so I will at least give it a try. I noticed that the package didn't say to wait until danger of frost was over, as most of them do. We had a light frost last night and I'm sure that's not the last one. Thank you for sharing the photo, jlp222. Did you use potting soil or the lighter seed starter mixture? They look great.

Sharkey, I planted them in the peat pellets and then transferred them into the bigger peat pots with regular potting soil.

I think I will plant some this morning. Have you grown these before in your climate? I notice that we both live in the Deep South where our summers are unbearably hot and humid.

I have never grown them before.