This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Sweet peas
Grajean
Posts: 447
My poor sweet peas, they were superb until the dratted heatwaves here in France, now drought. What few flowers there are, are very short stemmed. I have watered them and constantly dead heading but is it too late for them to recover?
Last edited: 21 July 2017 15:45:37
0
Posts
They have a limited growing period Grajean, and they really don't like extreme heat and/or drought. If you've kept them going until now, you've probably done quite well. The recommendation is always to plant in a sunny spot, but they actually do very well in quite a bit of shade. Instructions to 'plant in full sun' don't take into account the high temps many areas have - not just in France - so it can be a bit misleading. Mine don't start flowering till late June/early July, but often continue into late autumn when the rough weather and/or several days of frosts eventually see them off.
Next year, you could try sowing some seed a bit later on which will give you a succession of flowers. If you can give them a slightly more shade aspect, it will help. A heavier, moisture retaining compost with manure added will help a bit too.
We have a longstanding forum member living in France who has given up on growing them as they suffer so much in the heat she gets.
If you can get them in a shady spot and kep them well watered and fed, you might get a bit more mileage out of them
Last edited: 21 July 2017 16:14:09
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you. I do have a shadier spot so will plant there next year and also try extra later sowings.