Growing Perfect Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are among our favourite summer flowers and are best sown in March or early April. You can sow 5 seeds into a 7.5cm plastic pot filled with multi-purpose compost or use one of the re-usable plastic modules for training the roots, as sweet peas like a long, cool root run. When you need the plants the modules will snap apart easily and it is less likely that you will damage the delicate root system. Seeds should be well watered and kept in a cold greenhouse or cold frame to germinate. If you don't have either, try to find a sheltered spot against a house wall. It is most important not to let the compost dry out during the germination process.

Once the sweet pea seedlings are underway you should give them as much light as possible and you must accustom them to outdoor temperatures. You should pinch out the shoot tips when they are about 7.5cm tall.

Sweet peas need a lot of sun and rich soil and it is best to grow them in trenches filled with compost and well rotted manure, or at least in soil that has been enriched with plenty of organic matter. Sweet peas will grow quite tall and you should be using 2m canes for your support system, as you would for your runner beans. Alternatively you can also grow your sweet peas on a fence or trellis.

Make sure that your sweet peas are really wet when you are planting them. You should not plant them too deeply and remember to firm them in and water them well, once planted. Keep an eye on your plants in the early stages because they might need some initial support for upward growing. If you are growing the sweet peas for yourself I would suggest that you leave the tendrils on for extra support. People who grow for exhibition usually remove the tendrils so that the plant will put all its energy into making bigger flowers.

During dry spells your sweet peas will need a lot of watering in order to thrive. You should also apply one or two liquid feeds each week, this will prolong the growing season. It is of the utmost importance that you pick the flowers regularly if you want your plants to thrive.

If you are growing sweet peas for scent you should definitely try the magenta and purple coloured 'Matucana', the two-tone pink 'Painted Lady' or the purple 'Dark Passion'. If you are after large blooms you might try 'Chatsworth', which has frilly, pale lavender blooms, the pale pink 'Mrs. Bernhard Jones' or the crimson 'Winston Churchill'.

Sweet peas are prone to mildew if the plants are under stress due to lack of watering and a cold snap can cause bud drop, although this is quite rare. As long as you keep your plants well fed and watered you shouldn't have many problems.