Sweet Peas
Hi, I wonder if anyone has any ideas. For the last couple of years I've planted out my sweet peas, admittedly a little later than ideal, but having planted them they seem to either being nipped at the base by, I assume mice or perhaps something soil living? Those that don't get nipped seem to just stall and wither away. I grow them on canes in a row, having dug well rotted manure in around the base of the canes. I water them before and after planting and have been using the recycled wool slug deterrent around them. I am not too sure what I am doing wrong. I will be planting out my winter grown sweet peas shortly and have just bought a pest and wind barrier which I am thinking of using around to deter the mice. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or thoughts on my predicament. First and second year we lived here I grew sweet peas without too much thought or fuss and had a really good crop over a long season. What am I doing wrong?
Posts
Most likely culprit is slugs and/or snails - even with your deterrent. Most of these things don't work that well, and a slug or two can devastate a sweet pea very quickly.
Mice generally tend to eat the seed rather than the plants themselves, but it's a possibility, in which case you'll need to look at getting traps.
Are you making sure they're hardened off well enough when you plant them out? If they've been grown over winter and then get exposed to rough weather too quickly that can cause them to shrivel up. People worry a lot about frost ( usually unnecessarily, as they can withstand a fair bit of frost ) when planting out, but wet, cold, windy wetaher does more damage initially.
Another thought - what other planting do you have near them? Are they getting enough light where they're planted?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thanks Fairygirl. Re. mice, fighting a bit of a losing battle there really, open fields on three sides of the garden and lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide under/in. A couple of years ago we pulled back the black polythene covering the veg patch after winter to find a mum mouse and her babies, she quickly set about picking them up in her mouth and moving them, wouldn't have the heart to do anything with them - I'm my own worst enemy I know!
Given what you say about hardening them off I think that is a real possibility. Also going to move them to a new spot this year. They were in the lee of a beech hedge, although they were getting sun for most of the day I don't think the hedge was helping.
I might also try a wigwam in the main part of the garden to see if I have more success there. Totally different conditions but might be what they need.