Sweet peas are one of those flowers that every gardener should grow if only for their wide color range and delightful scent. As with all plants a few tips from an expert will help you to be successful. Unfortunately it is rather too late for this year, but these step-by-step instructions will give you the knowledge you need to grow amazing sweet peas. The information comes from an article by Andy McIndoe which I found on the Learning With Experts website.

If you want to grow amazing sweet peas you should start now. Traditionally gardeners sowed sweet peas in the autumn, overwintered them in cold frames, and then planted out in spring. Many still do. However sweet peas are versatile hardy annuals. You can get them going indoors, or sow them later outside in big containers or directly into the open ground. What?s interesting about them is their enduring popularity, other flowers come and go but sweet peas remain firm favourites through generations of gardeners.

 

 

All keen sweet pea growers have their secrets and particular ways of growing them. Before writing this I did a little research on ?the right way? to sow and grow sweet peas. Some soak them, others nick the seeds with a knife. Some sow several seeds in a pot, others just one seed in a large pot. Some start them in the warm, others grow them cold. But it is always worth remembering that there are usually several ways to achieve great results. Your amazing sweet peas will be the result of skill, experimentation, experience, and more than anything else, luck!

 

 

Here?s my step by step guide to growing amazing sweet peas.

 

1. Buy fresh, quality seeds. Personally I would choose to buy selected varieties to get the colours I want and most of all to ensure I get heavily fragrant ones. The choice is yours; there are certainly plenty to choose from. If you do intend to scoop the prize at your local flower show, choose varieties recommended for exhibition.

 

2. First and foremost prepare the planting position. I would do this now, even before you sow the seed. Sweet peas need moisture; dry conditions cause bud drop. They also like plenty of nitrogen for growth and potash for flowers. Dig the ground over and if possible dig out a trench or a flat bottomed hole to a depth of 45cm (18?) or so and fill with a layer of compost with fish, blood and bone mixed in or well-rotted manure. Backfill with soil mixed with manure or garden compost.

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