I planted my sweet peas early spring this year, but after seeing Monty's trial and other info from this forum having decided to sow some now and then some in the spring. Mine did ok (apart from the one's my 12 year old daughter pulled up when helping with the weeding!) but I didn't spend much time on them and didn't cut any for the vase. After reading lots of tips etc I hope to get a better lot for cut flowers next year.
If the sweet peas are sown now, when is germination expected ? That is, do they come through in a few weeks as usual and then just sit dormant as small plants through the rest of winter - or what ?
If the sweet peas are sown now, when is germination expected ? That is, do they come through in a few weeks as usual and then just sit dormant as small plants through the rest of winter - or what ?
Sweet peas take between 7 & 21 days to germinate, depending on the temperature they are subjected to.
21 days is far preferable to 7 days as the latter indicates being too warm, which may result in straggly plants.
Getting started is a bit of a balancing act, taking advantage while temperatures are still warm enough to germinate the seed and then for cold weather to keep them from putting on growth until late February.
The nights are starting to get quite cool now, so I will be sowing my seed in my cold greenhouse one day next week.
Thanks for the advice David - have you ever grown the dwarf variety Cupid? I am hoping that the method will still be the same. Unfortunately I don't have a greenhouse or coldframe so I will be planting into the ground in March. Fingers crossed.
Lunarz - I haven't grown 'Cupid' (would that be 'Pink Cupid'?) as I tend to stick to cordon grown varieties.
If you intend to grow your 'Cupid' in pots or containers, you can sow them in situ now. Being extremely hardy they will survive the frost, although they don't like cold biting winds and they will need protection from slugs.
I would say to anyone who doesn't have a coldframe or cold greenhouse, you can still sow directly into the ground in autumn.....just keep in mind the aforementioned slugs & cold winds.
This has to be one of the quietest SP threads I've ever started....Anyway, as Thursday this week is forecast to be wet, I'll probably spend time in the greenhouse sowing my sweet pea seed.
I think it would probably be a good time to sow in most parts.The young seedlings should then be established by early November, when hopefully we get some cold weather to slow them down.
Posts
Thank you David. I'll be planting mine in a couple of weeks time then.
I planted my sweet peas early spring this year, but after seeing Monty's trial and other info from this forum having decided to sow some now and then some in the spring. Mine did ok (apart from the one's my 12 year old daughter pulled up when helping with the weeding!) but I didn't spend much time on them and didn't cut any for the vase. After reading lots of tips etc I hope to get a better lot for cut flowers next year.
If the sweet peas are sown now, when is germination expected ? That is, do they come through in a few weeks as usual and then just sit dormant as small plants through the rest of winter - or what ?
Sweet peas take between 7 & 21 days to germinate, depending on the temperature they are subjected to.
21 days is far preferable to 7 days as the latter indicates being too warm, which may result in straggly plants.
Getting started is a bit of a balancing act, taking advantage while temperatures are still warm enough to germinate the seed and then for cold weather to keep them from putting on growth until late February.
The nights are starting to get quite cool now, so I will be sowing my seed in my cold greenhouse one day next week.
Thanks David, I've always Spring sown before but lost most of them this year with the weather. Will try Autumn sowing hopefully for a better result
Thanks for the advice David - have you ever grown the dwarf variety Cupid? I am hoping that the method will still be the same. Unfortunately I don't have a greenhouse or coldframe so I will be planting into the ground in March. Fingers crossed.
Lunarz - I haven't grown 'Cupid' (would that be 'Pink Cupid'?) as I tend to stick to cordon grown varieties.
If you intend to grow your 'Cupid' in pots or containers, you can sow them in situ now. Being extremely hardy they will survive the frost, although they don't like cold biting winds and they will need protection from slugs.
I would say to anyone who doesn't have a coldframe or cold greenhouse, you can still sow directly into the ground in autumn.....just keep in mind the aforementioned slugs & cold winds.
Great - thank you. I'll try some now and some in March then
This has to be one of the quietest SP threads I've ever started....Anyway, as Thursday this week is forecast to be wet, I'll probably spend time in the greenhouse sowing my sweet pea seed.
I think it would probably be a good time to sow in most parts.The young seedlings should then be established by early November, when hopefully we get some cold weather to slow them down.