How to grow sweet peas
BY READERS DIGEST
1st Jan 2015 Home & Garden
Sweet peas are a beautiful and colourful addition to any garden. Learn how to grow them here.
Preparation
- Soak seeds overnight in water and plant them 2 inches (5.1cm) deep in cool garden soil that has been deeply dug and amended with organic matter, such as compost.
Planting
- Time the planting of sweet peas to take advantage of cool weather. Planting can begin as soon as the soil can be worked in late winter and early spring.
- Alternatively, you can jump-start the season by sowing seeds indoors in late winter, using individual pots. Keep the soil barely moist and grow the seedlings on a sunny, cool window sill.
- Transplant them into the garden 2 weeks before your last frost date. Handle seedlings gently, planting peat pot and all, and disturb the roots as little as possible.
- Mulch the soil around the roots with a 3-inch (7.6cm) thick layer of chopped dried leaves, straw, or shredded bark to keep the roots cool and moist. Install a trellis early on and help the young plants find support if their own search falters.
- Pick off spent flowers to encourage continued flowering. If you see the small, pear-shaped, sap-sucking insects known as green flies clustered on the leaf undersides of new growth, knock them off the plant with a forceful water spray.