Sweet Pea (plant)

...add splashes of colour so sweet peas, latin name Lathyrus, fit in perfectly. They’re very easy to grow and look lovely winding their way up a wigwam of bamboo canes in a pot or through a trellis along with clematis or other permanent climbers.

Sweet peas usually grow to about 8 foot but in a pot with bamboo canes you can either keep them down by pinching out the growing tips whenever they’re too long or you can help them wind their ...
...you do decide to plant sweet peas and find that you like them so much that you’ll be wanting some next year, late autumn/early winter, around October/November, is the best time to sow the seeds if you have a greenhouse or shed window sill available although January still isn‘t too late. Sweet peas hate having their long roots disturbed so the insides of toilet rolls come in handy here as root trainers. Stand them in a seed tray, fill with good quality ... more

Colour, texture and scent are all important elements of a well designed garden. A mish-mash of plants that are chosen without any particular scheme in mind and thrown into the ground in any old spot will rarely work. Sure, they may bloom but you probably won’t be getting the best from your garden.

Our back garden is based on plenty of foliage for texture and cool pastels to add splashes of colour so sweet peas, latin name Lathyrus, fit in perfectly. They’re very easy to grow and look lovely winding their way up a wigwam of bamboo canes in a pot or through a trellis along with clematis or other permanent climbers.

Sweet peas usually grow to about 8 foot but in a pot with bamboo canes you can either keep them down by pinching out the growing tips whenever they’re too long or you can help them wind their way around the wigwam by tying them to the canes with soft twine. Obviously, the higher your canes, the better. Hold the canes together at the top by either twisting garden wire around them (it looks like the seals you use with sandwich bags only green instead of white) or buy special caps that have three gaps for fitting over the top of the canes. The second option is the safer option as you’re less likely to damage your face when leaning over your plants although until this year, I’ve always used wire and have never had an accident. I’d probably be more inclined to use them if I had inquisitive children, though.

Now’s a good time to plant the seeds. They’re quite big, about the size of a garden pea, so easy enough to handle. Just poke them into the soil where you want them to grow and within 10-14 days you should see the seedlings appear. In a pot, plant the seeds around the canes, planting about twice as many seeds as you think you’ll need. Not all will germinate and should you end up with too many, pull out the weaker seedlings leaving just the strongest of the bunch to grow on and become vigorous, floriferous plants. Some gardeners swear by soaking the seeds for 24 hours before planting, others say that you should rub the seeds with sandpaper to aid germination. I’ve done neither and never had a problem.

If you do decide to plant sweet peas and find that you like them so much that you’ll be wanting some next year, late autumn/early winter, around October/November, is the best time to sow the seeds if you have a greenhouse or shed window sill available although January still isn‘t too late. Sweet peas hate having their long roots disturbed so the insides of toilet rolls come in handy here as root trainers. Stand them in a seed tray, fill with good quality seed compost and poke 2-3 seeds into each. Again, they’ll have germinated within 10 days or so and will grow slowly but steadily throughout the winter. By the time spring comes they will be ready for planting out and in flower at least a month before their spring sown counterparts.

Young plants growing directly in the ground are often prone to slug and snail attack. A hungry snail can strip a whole row of sweet peas within minutes. Ok, so maybe not quite that quickly but it certainly seems like it when you’ve just been admiring some nice, strong baby plants only to discover that they’ve been devoured by public enemy number one whilst your back was turned. Obviously this can be a problem with sweet peas growing in pots too although mine seem to have got away without any sign of attack so far.

Those who grow sweet peas for show purposes remove the tendrils that they’ll naturally use to climb as this produces longer, straighter flower stems. However, it means more work, not only because you have to check and remove tendrils on a daily basis but because you’ll have to tie in the plants throughout their lives as they’ll no longer have a natural way of climbing. By leaving the tendrils intact, you’ll only need to tie in for the first 6 inches or so, until the plants establish themselves but the flowers will be on shorter, less straight stems. Personally, I think that’s part of their charm.

In flower from July to September (earlier if sown the previous year), the plant is hermaphrodite, meaning that they have both male and female organs and can be pollinated by insects without the need for the insect to have first visited a plant of the opposite sex.

Flowers are highly perfumed and beautiful when cut for the house. You don’t even need to feel guilty for cutting them either; the more flowers you take off, the more the plant will produce. In fact, it’s important to keep cutting the flowers as if allowed to run to seed, flowering will come to an abrupt end.

Colours range from white through various shades of pink, red, peach, lilac, blue and purple with streaked and marbled varieties available in combinations of these colours. A pale yellow variety is also to be had although I’ve never seen it in bloom. Picotee flowers, with their wavy edges, are especially pretty.

Although preferring a sunny position, sweet peas will also grow happily in dappled shade. Full shade, however, is a no-go zone.

During recent years a few dwarf varieties have appeared on the market. These generally grow to about 12 - 16 inches and are therefore perfect for hanging baskets. Imagine a basket full of lush, pastel coloured, fragrant sweet peas, delicate lobelia and maybe a verbena or two. You can’t possibly dispute how pretty that‘d be.

Sweet peas seedlings can suffer if over watered but established plants are thirsty, needing the soil or compost to be kept damp but not waterlogged. For pot or basket grown plants, watering at least once a day, preferably during the evening, will be necessary. However, they’re not particularly hungry so I don’t both with slow release fertiliser in their pots, I just give them a drop of a good balanced fertilizer once a fortnight. (I personally prefer Miracle Gro although there are organic alternatives available).

There are some viruses that sweet peas can be prone to although I’ve never had a problem with them. Maybe I’ve just been lucky. I’m told that they’ll generally show up as flecking of the leaves, stunting or distortion of the plant and/or flowers. Aphids are usually to blame as they transfer virus from one plant to another. Remember to love those ladybirds and lacewings as they really are the best aphid control available although a spray with a solution of 1 part washing up liquid to 5 parts water will usually get rid of them for a week or so. Any plants that appear to be affected should be removed immediately and destroyed. Don’t throw them in the compost bin as some viruses will survive and infect any plants that are later grown in or mulched with your compost.

My other half has just reminded me that the seeds are poisonous so it’s important that children understand that they are NOT edible as if allowed to run to seed, the pods look very similar to those of edible peas.

Our climbing sweet peas are doing well in a pot on the patio and a couple of days ago planted a few more seeds to grow up and around a cherry tree that also grows in a pot on the patio. I’ve some of the dwarf variety ready to be transferred to a basket once my darling partner gets his power tool out and hangs the blooming thing up, too (no pun intended there).

Oh, how I love this time of year. I can’t imagine anything more therapeutic than pottering around in the garden.

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