Sweet Peas are a colourful, aromatic and heavily flowering plants. They can be easy to care if you follow these simple tips.
- Sweet Peas grow up to 2m in height with 20cm spread and should be keep them well spread out. Water regularly and feed with a good quality pant food when they start to flower.
- These plants are easy to grow from seed, plant them in either Autumn or Spring. They do need to be protected from the frost so make sure they are somewhere nice warm (especially if planting in Autumn). If growing from seed is too demanding then plugs are an easy way to get Sweet Peas as these would be planted in April or early May, well after any frost to be over.
- Position Sweet Peas in a sunny spot but try to avoid somewhere that is in the blazing heat. Keep them well watered at all times.
- Sweet Peas grow very well in pots. They do have large root systems so you need a a good size pot to prevent them becoming pot-bound. Make sure you keep them well watered, pots don’t keep moisture as well as the ground.
- Provide growing support for them – use bamboo sticks in a wigwam format with twine spiralled round them to contain the growth. Alternatively you can use trellis but you will need netting to contain the plant. Cut off the tendrils as these have a tendency to wrap round themselves and twist the stems out of shape.
- Pinch out the tips of the plant when they are young, about 10-12cm in height to provide a fuller plant. Pinching out Sweet Peas will provide more growth, the more you cut back the more that will grow.
- Cut the flowers regularly, not only will this produce even more flowers, they look and smell great in and indoor vase! Never let Sweet Pea flowers go to seed, this will be the end of the life of the plant. Cutting the flowers back once or twice a week produce the best results.
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