Thank you for your reply above i am a little disheartened. But still keen to keep trying.....Do you mean that at each cane there seems to be more than one plant.....this would possible explain why i found it so difficult to tie to the cane as there was a lot of stems.
I may try seeds next year if i manage not to kill at least one thing i try this year...... So far i have tries zinnias (they are all dead) tomatoes (doing ok but still to be potted on and taken out to greenhouse) red chillies (same as tomatoes) strawberries (not looking too good) and sunflowers (looking good but need to be put in individual containers) i think i am trying too many things and need to stick to just one. So sweet peas will definitely be the one for next year as i love them so much.
Height on label says 2.1m so my plan was to hopefully get them started off in this pot and move them to a fence out back later on if they survived...do you think there is any possibility of this or should i give up on them?
Hi, again, Shirley.......you've done nothing wrong at all, but (IMHO) the Garden Centres should be downright ashamed of themselves for selling these (and other) things without giving guidance.
Normally they throw half a dozen or so seeds into a 9cm pot, water them, stick them somewhere unsuitably warm....next stop the GC. They adopt the same procedure with other things, such as runner beans & peas.
We assume you have half a dozen or so individual plants in each pot and these need to be gently teased apart into individual plants......gently does it, as sweet peas don't like root disturbance.
So now, where to plant them? As said previously, your container is far too shallow for these deep rooted plants, so try to find somewhere in the open ground where the soil has been deeply dug, then replant about 15cm apart.....alternatively, in the deepest pots you can find.
Initially just put a few twiggy sticks around them for support.....we'll talk about more substantial support later if you wish.
It's a shame really, cos you probably only needed to buy 1 or 2 pots.
David thanks again....i appreciate your help. Every town should have little gardening club Hopefully it will stay dry until the weekend (and they stay alive till then) i will get them moved and replanted....approx what dept should i aim for would 30cm be sufficient and i have a border between breeze blocks and a 6ft fence the neighbour put up........at the moment its filled with rubble but i could empty it???
Can't really be specific about depth, Shirley...you see, I've never tried growing sweet peas in containers, just very deeply dug open ground....so perhaps others with more experience of container growing can help.
Ok David i think what I'm going to try is putting them in the border would about 30cm depth be ok there and the fence doesn't get sun until about 11am at the moment would that be ok?
Okay, Shirley...but 30cm is quite a shallow root run. Perhaps you will be able to grow a few bunches for the house this way. Compensating for the lack of soil depth, you will need to feed & water more frequently than usual.
As you perhaps already know, sweet peas climb their supports using the tendrils they grow, so think in terms of fixing some kind of netting/trellis to the fence.
The potential height will be 2m +, but I guess yours (given the soil depth) will probably be less.
These are beautiful David K. Unfortunately I have an allergy to the smell of flowers - they make me sneeze but worse than just mild hayfever - same with mowing grass & any other "smelly" flowers, however I can grow flowers but not near the house and preferably non scented ones. Some flowers give off strong perfumes like Stock or lilac but others including roses are more subtle and I am quite happy with those outside our home.
David those sweetpeas are beautiful, love the colours.
Could I get some advice please, I sowed some seeds about 2 weeks ago, nothing has come up yet so I bought some sweetpea plant from the shop just in case. I have attached a photo.
Do I need to pinch the top's off ? , should I pot them on in to bigger pot's as the pot's they are in are quiet small or should I leave them in there pots till I plant them out? , there are about 11 to a pot.
I will be planting them in to pots when they go outside so not sure when they can be planted out.
Hi, Lorna....thank you, those SPs were from Eagle's 'Staffordshire Collection'.
I suppose we all get a bit impatient, but really three weeks for germination is quite normal.
Those you have will benefit from the tops being nipped out now. Just nip them out above the second pair of leaves......in fact, providing they haven't been gown using heat, they could be planted outside now......just give them a little protection from the wind.
Posts
Hi DavidK,
Thank you for your reply above
i am a little disheartened. But still keen to keep trying.....Do you mean that at each cane there seems to be more than one plant.....this would possible explain why i found it so difficult to tie to the cane as there was a lot of stems.
I may try seeds next year if i manage not to kill at least one thing i try this year...... So far i have tries zinnias (they are all dead) tomatoes (doing ok but still to be potted on and taken out to greenhouse) red chillies (same as tomatoes) strawberries (not looking too good) and sunflowers (looking good but need to be put in individual containers) i think i am trying too many things and need to stick to just one. So sweet peas will definitely be the one for next year as i love them so much.
Height on label says 2.1m so my plan was to hopefully get them started off in this pot and move them to a fence out back later on if they survived...do you think there is any possibility of this or should i give up on them?
Hi, again, Shirley.......you've done nothing wrong at all, but (IMHO) the Garden Centres should be downright ashamed of themselves for selling these (and other) things without giving guidance.
Normally they throw half a dozen or so seeds into a 9cm pot, water them, stick them somewhere unsuitably warm....next stop the GC. They adopt the same procedure with other things, such as runner beans & peas.
We assume you have half a dozen or so individual plants in each pot and these need to be gently teased apart into individual plants......gently does it, as sweet peas don't like root disturbance.
So now, where to plant them? As said previously, your container is far too shallow for these deep rooted plants, so try to find somewhere in the open ground where the soil has been deeply dug, then replant about 15cm apart.....alternatively, in the deepest pots you can find.
Initially just put a few twiggy sticks around them for support.....we'll talk about more substantial support later if you wish.
It's a shame really, cos you probably only needed to buy 1 or 2 pots.
David thanks again....i appreciate your help. Every town should have little gardening club
Hopefully it will stay dry until the weekend (and they stay alive till then) i will get them moved and replanted....approx what dept should i aim for would 30cm be sufficient and i have a border between breeze blocks and a 6ft fence the neighbour put up........at the moment its filled with rubble but i could empty it???
Can't really be specific about depth, Shirley...you see, I've never tried growing sweet peas in containers, just very deeply dug open ground....so perhaps others with more experience of container growing can help.
Ok David i think what I'm going to try is putting them in the border would about 30cm depth be ok there and the fence doesn't get sun until about 11am at the moment would that be ok?
Okay, Shirley...but 30cm is quite a shallow root run. Perhaps you will be able to grow a few bunches for the house this way. Compensating for the lack of soil depth, you will need to feed & water more frequently than usual.
As you perhaps already know, sweet peas climb their supports using the tendrils they grow, so think in terms of fixing some kind of netting/trellis to the fence.
The potential height will be 2m +, but I guess yours (given the soil depth) will probably be less.
These are beautiful David K. Unfortunately I have an allergy to the smell of flowers - they make me sneeze but worse than just mild hayfever - same with mowing grass & any other "smelly" flowers, however I can grow flowers but not near the house and preferably non scented ones. Some flowers give off strong perfumes like Stock or lilac but others including roses are more subtle and I am quite happy with those outside our home.
David those sweetpeas are beautiful, love the colours.
Could I get some advice please, I sowed some seeds about 2 weeks ago, nothing has come up yet so I bought some sweetpea plant from the shop just in case. I have attached a photo.
Do I need to pinch the top's off ? , should I pot them on in to bigger pot's as the pot's they are in are quiet small or should I leave them in there pots till I plant them out? , there are about 11 to a pot.
I will be planting them in to pots when they go outside so not sure when they can be planted out.
Thank you for your help.
Hi, Lorna....thank you, those SPs were from Eagle's 'Staffordshire Collection'.
I suppose we all get a bit impatient, but really three weeks for germination is quite normal.
Those you have will benefit from the tops being nipped out now. Just nip them out above the second pair of leaves......in fact, providing they haven't been gown using heat, they could be planted outside now......just give them a little protection from the wind.