Sweet Peas - Beginner Style!
Sweet Peas are well-known for their fabulous scent and free-flowering nature. They can be grown easily amongst vegetable gardens, in pots, and just about anywhere else. Here are a few things they need...
- Good soil
- A few hours of direct sun
- In humid areas, an open location with good air transfer
- Something to climb up in the case of tall-varieties
Starting Out
First, if you have never grown beans, peas or sweetpeas in this spot before your seeds will need more than just soil and water to develop properly. The roots of sweet peas will not develop unless there is a special bacteria present in your soil. It may already be there. If you aren't sure, or can't really remember, play it safe and get your hands on some of the bacteria. It's sold as Bean and Pea Inoculant. You can find it at garden stores and just about anywhere sweet pea seeds are sold. If you have never had luck with sweetpea seeds, lack of this bacteria could be the cause. It's cheap and easy and organic and only needs to be done once and then the plot is cured. Online you can find it at The Cook's Garden.
Read more about the amazing relationship between legumes (such as sweet peas), a certain bacteria, and YOU!
Sowing
Find out the average date of last frost for your area. If it doesn't freeze where you are, then don't worry about this. On this day, start planting. Plant 1/4 of your packet at first, about 12 inches apart each seed. 1 week later, plant another 1/4 portion of your seeds in the same area. Continue sowing this way each week until there are no seeds left. By successively sowing in this way, you can extend the season of sweetpea flowers in your garden. It will also mean it is hard to plant your seeds too thinly, which can result in a fairly unimpressive show, regardless of what you try.
Here's a few tips on starting from seeds in other ways.
What are Sweet Peas Anyway?
Sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) are a Sicilian wildflower. In their wild form they are small-flowered but intensely fragant. They were intensely bred, and by 1900, 264 varieties were exhibited at the World's Fair at the Crystal Palace. Today, ruffled, large-petaled varieties that now are the most popular of sweet pea seeds sold, even though they are not fragrant.
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