When Is The Best Time To Grow Sweet Peas

Sweet peas grow best in healthy soil that keeps moisture but drains easily.

when to plant sweet peas

When between October and April, plant sweet pea seeds. Aim for late October or late November or late February or early March for the best outcomes because midwinter temperatures and light conditions aren’t the optimum. In April or May, sweet peas can also be planted directly into the ground. During a moderate period between March and May, sow your sweet pea seeds and plants.

Can I plant sweet peas after Easter?

Sweet peas are one of the few annual flowers with enduring appeal and rural charm. They appear to be the exact opposite of our hurried life as they twine languidly around a rustic trellis. Sweet peas are fantastic flowers for gardens and bouquets thanks to their alluring scent. For information on how to plant and care for sweet peas, read our Sweet Pea Growing Guide!

About Sweet Peas

The sour pea Lathyrus odoratus is an annual flower that looks great twining on a trellis or arch, growing in a cutting garden, border garden, or woods. Today, a wide variety of hues, from pearly white to ice cream pastels to ritzy magentas and inky purples, are available for the blooms.

Only their honey and orange blossom fragrance matches their delicate winged flowers. Their appeal has been ensured by the combination of their exquisite aroma and their capacity to generate a large number of flowers for the house over an extended time of cutting.

One of the keys to cultivating sweet peas is to sow them early. Sweet peas are incredibly tough, despite the way they appear fragile. Plant them in very late winter or early spring in USDA Hardiness Zone 7 or colder, as soon as the soil is dry enough to work with. (Don’t plant seeds after the last frost.

When Dr. Robert Uvedale, a teacher from Enfield, Middlesex, received seeds of this exceedingly fragrant annual in 1699 from a Sicilian monk named Francis Cupani, he brought the first sweet peas to Britain. In North America, they gained enormous popularity as garden plants and cut flowers. By the late 1800s, producers in California, especially W. Atlee Burpee, were exporting trainloads of sweet peas across the nation and creating numerous new varieties.

Some people liken the process of producing sweet peas to that of preparing pie dough. Some individuals are gifted, while others are not. This plant sprouts from large, manageable seeds that resemble peas. They are still rather challenging since they take a while to germinate. It’s worthwhile to experiment with various seeds every year.

When to Plant Sweet Peas

• Sweet peas should be planted as soon as the soil is dry enough to work in very late winter or early spring in most places where frosts occur frequently (Zone 7 and colder). (Start sowing before the last frost! Most certainly, it will be too late.)
• Plant sweet peas in the late fall (November) if you garden in a region with a mild winter climate (Zones 8, 9, or 10), so they can grow and blossom in the late winter and early spring. Six weeks before you plant the seeds, dig a trench and fill it with compost or well-rotted manure to obtain the greatest show. Sweet peas are gregarious plants that require a lot of nutrient-rich materials to flourish.

Sowing Sweet Peas Indoors

• Start sweet peas inside in a seed tray to get a head start on the season in the coldest regions of the nation. Sweet peas can withstand light frosts, so plant out as soon as the soil can be worked in early spring, around 6 to 7 weeks before the last date for frost.
• The seeds’ outer layer is softened and helped to germinate by soaking them overnight. Using a nail file to lightly score the outer shell can also be beneficial.
• 2 seeds to a module is fine to sow the seeds, but keep in mind that their lengthy roots have a propensity to tangle and can make separation challenging. Sow the seeds around half an inch deep in each cell of a seed tray.
• Scoop them out gently after they start to sprout their first pea-like leaves and place them in a larger container to harden off. One of the most reputable growers of sweet peas gave me the following piece of advice: “Treat the seedlings like I would treat my husband: put them in an unheated greenhouse, neglect them, and they will thrive.
• Plant them outside as soon as the soil can be worked.

Sowing Seeds in the Ground

• Sweet peas thrive when their roots are firmly planted in cold, wet soil and their heads are exposed to sunlight. Plant low-growing annuals in front of them if you can to provide shade for the roots.
• Pick a spot that drains effectively. If your soil tends to be acidic, it is recommended to add some powdered lime to the surface.
• Mix liberal amounts of compost or well-rotted manure into the ground to a depth of two feet to create a rich soil. (Learn more about adding amendments to the soil and getting it ready for planting.)
• You should dig a beautiful, deep “compost trench” that is around 4 inches deep before planting.
• After digging the trench, use a pencil to cut holes, place the seeds inside, and then press down on the earth to compact it and block out any light.
• The seeds should be soaked in water for 24 hours prior to sowing. To hasten sprouting, nick the seeds with a nail file before planting. In a temperate climate, seeds don’t need to be soaked.

How to Grow Sweet Peas

• Depending on the soil temperature, germination after planting can take anywhere from 7 to 15 days.
• Fill in the trench gradually as the seedlings appear and develop. Hoe additional dirt toward them.
• Keep the soil wet. Summer rains may be plentiful. Sweet peas can have bud drop; if you stick your finger into the soil bed to its first joint and the soil is dry, water them at the soil level and do so in the morning.
• You won’t need to fertilize if you plant with a lot of compost and aged manure. Use high potash feeds if you do want to supplement the diet because nitrogen feeds promote excessive top development.
• Mulch well once plants are planted to keep the soil cool and moist. Unless the soil becomes dry, you might not need to water your sweet peas if you mulch.
• Pinch off the tops when plants are 6 inches tall, not sooner, as this will promote the production of side shoots too early.

Provide Supports

• When temperatures rise above 65°F, sweet peas will begin to fade since they like chilly days and nights.
• Sweet peas are true climbers, with the exception of the bush forms. Provide them with sufficient support for at least 6 feet. Some species can reach heights of nine or ten feet. A braided willow obelisk, bamboo poles in the tee-pee design, or a trellis are examples of other attractive supports. If you don’t have a fence or trellis, give them something to cling on, such chicken wire, bushy twigs, or brush.
• Give the plants a good start by tying the first few stems to the support; the rest will follow. When they reach a height of 4 to 8 inches, use your thumb and forefinger to pinch out the middle growing point. Plants will grow stronger as a result.

Picking Flowers

• Pick flowers frequently for bouquets so that the plant will focus its energy on producing additional blooms rather than seeds. Up until the first frosts, the more you pick, the more they produce.
• Allow a couple of the final blossoms to mature into seedpods when the leaves begin to lose their color. On a windowsill, dry them, and then keep in an envelope in a dry location to sow the following year.

From miniature bedding kinds ideal for pots and borders without support to 8-foot-plus scramblers, there are sweet pea varieties for every setting.

These decorative peas are native to Sicily, where they have flimsy stems and a powerful orange-jasmine-honey aroma. Modern hybrids feature larger blooms and stronger stalks.

However, some of these contemporary kinds, despite having larger blossoms and more fashionable colors, lack the earlier sweet peas’ perfume. Sweet pea ‘Cupani’ is still rightfully well-liked and simple to grow. It has bi-colored flowers with maroon upper petals and violet “wings.”

The decadently fragrant “America” is an antique from 1896. When its petals open, beautiful red and white wavy stripes are revealed.

Look for antiques like the Sicilian “Old Spice” collection. Shades of white, cream, pink, lavender, and purple can be seen in this strain’s blossoms.

A new cultivar with enormous, creamy-yellow blooms with violet shading called “April in Paris” is aromatic.

Although the ordinary sweet pea is an annual, Lathyrus latiflolius, a perennial broad-leaved everlasting pea, is not fragrant. These clambering plants have a height of up to 6 or 7 feet, are hardy to zone 5, require little care, and bloom continuously from year to year.

• An essential component of a late Victorian garden is the sweet pea. Because of their wide range of colors and aroma, Victorians adored sweet peas.
• When the dew is still on the flowers in the morning, gather them. Their best aroma is at this time.

Can sweet pea seeds still be started?

Nothing is more pleasant for a gardener than planting sweet pea and other flower seeds in the winter. Getting out my sweet pea seed packets and seeing them germinate and sprout indoors is the most delightful thing to do when there is not much happening in the garden itself and I have been spending days indoors due to the cold, wet weather!

Therefore, if you’ve been considering that the only thing you can do for your garden is sit and observe it from the window, reconsider your position.

Early planting of sweet peas will repay you with delightfully scented and eye-catching blossoms. Sweet pea seeds must be started in late winter or early spring if you plant in a zone 7 or colder climate. Don’t hold off till the last frost! Generally speaking, you should start your seedlings inside 6 to 8 weeks before the final anticipated frost.

It might be too late to grow sweet peas and get decent results if you wait until after your final frost. In other regions of the nation, spring lasts only a few weeks before temperatures suddenly rise. Sweet peas require lower temperatures to grow well.

When do you sow your peas?

Nothing compares to the delightful flavor of peas straight from the garden in terms of sweetness. They are fresh candies from nature! One of the earliest crops of the year, peas are planted as soon as the land can be worked, even if snow follows. See our growing advice for peas, from planting to harvesting!

About Peas

Peas are incredibly simple to raise, however they only have a very short growing season. It’s crucial to plant them in the springtime early enough for them to mature while the temperature is still cool. (This refers to planting in most of the United States and Canada in February, March, or April.) In warmer areas, they can also be cultivated as an autumn or winter crop.

Enjoy the flavor of peas as soon as you can because they don’t keep fresh for very long after harvest. The taste of the peas you get in grocery shops, which are frequently starchy, is incomparable to garden-fresh peas.

Most garden and culinary requirements can be met by three types of peas:

• The seeds (peas) of sweet peas, also known as garden peas or English peas (Pisum sativum ssp. sativum), are extracted from inedible pods.

What happens if sweet peas are planted too late?

Sweet pea seeds are planted in the late fall, and after they sprout, they focus most of their energy on developing roots. The seeds will spend the harshest winter months growing and establishing the plants in the soil; at this stage, there is little to no aboveground development. Plants are apparent as they emerge from the dirt in the early spring as the temperature begins to warm up again. Thereafter, they grow quickly, resulting in blooming in the spring and frequently into the early summer. Sweet peas are not tolerant of temperatures beyond 80 degrees F unless they are given some shade during the hottest part of the day, therefore growth slows down as the weather heats.

Sweet peas can I grow in the winter?

You can plant sweet peas as long as your winter days are typically below 23°C. Your climate will, however, have an impact on when you should plant. Early April is the ideal time to plant seeds for summer flowers in chilly places. The customary date for planting sweet peas elsewhere is St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. The blooms will, however, only bloom in the late winter and early spring, so any time between early March and late May is acceptable. Choose between seeds and seedlings. Although seedlings are the simpler alternative, seeds are easier to sow, provide more possibilities, and are also less expensive. At this time of year, your neighborhood garden center ought to have a nice assortment of both seeds and seedlings.

Are sweet peas winter-resistant?

According to Gardeners’ World (opens in new tab), sweet peas should be treated like any other non-hardy annual: “Plant your sweet peas outside starting in late May, after all danger of frost has passed. Put them outside throughout the day and bring them inside at night to harden them off before planting.

The most recent edition of Sarah Raven’s podcast (opens in new tab) claims, however, that “Sweet peas are hardy and can go in the garden from the middle of March.”

Confused? So were we up till we learned the RHS’s excellent sweetpea-growing tips (opens in new tab) (watch in the video above). Sweet peas are in fact “extremely tough,” says Propagation Leader Sam Gallivan, and they can withstand frosts “with no issue at all.” They do struggle with extended cold and rainy times, though. Your young sweet pea plants could perish if you reside in a region where early spring can bring both low temperatures just above freezing and a lot of rain.

Because of this, you have two options: either hold off and plant them outside in April when the weather will be warmer, even if it rains, or keep them in a cold frame until the chilly showers stop. However, sweet peas are typically categorized as half-hardy annuals and can withstand dry frost up to -4C. (25F). You will need to cover them with horticultural fleece in the event that temps fall below that.

How to sow sweet pea seeds

Sweet pea flower seeds are frequently advised to be nicked or chipped before planting, as well as to soak in water or damp paper towels for the night, although none of these steps are necessary. Sweet peas thrive in root trainers, which are unique tall plug trays, or 9cm pots since they prefer to have a long root run. But a toilet paper roll’s cardboard interior will also work.

Individual seeds can be sown in toilet paper inners or root trainers, or two to three seeds can be planted in a 9 cm pot. The container should be filled with seed compost, dampened, and then the seed should be pushed in with your finger to a depth of about 1 cm. Add some compost to the top and gradually water. Put the pots in a protected area that is well-lit. Unlike other seeds, they do not require additional heat from a propagator. When the seedlings emerge, place the pots somewhere sunny and cold, ideally between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius, or else they will grow long and lanky.

What month do you plant sweet peas?

Sweet peas can be purchased as plug plants or are produced from seed. If starting from seeds, you can plant them in the spring (February to April) or the autumn (usually October or November), and then nurture the seedlings into little plants.

Autumn and early spring seeds require a frost-free environment to thrive, such as a cold greenhouse or cold frame. It is better to wait and plant the seed later, in April, when you can start them off easily on a windowsill inside, if you don’t have a place that is cool and light like this. Alternately, in late April and early May, direct-sow outdoors in larger pots or the ground.

best varieties of sweet pea flowers

• The two-toned, dark pink and purple blossoms of Lathyrus odoratus ‘Matucana’ have one of the greatest fragrances of any sweet pea. BUY NOW
• The strongly fragranced Lathyrus odoratus ‘Erewhon’ blooms in exquisite mauve-pink and pastel blue hues. BUY NOW
• Lathyrus odoratus ‘Lord Nelson’ has deeper navy-blue to purple flowers that are smaller but intensely fragrant and produced in greater numbers per stem. BUY NOW
• An antique variety of annual sweet pea with vivid reddish-pink blossoms is called Lathyrus odoratus “King Edward II.” BUY NOW
• Popular early-flowering sweet pea Lathyrus odoratus “Painted Lady” has dark pink and light pinky-white petals.
• BUY NOW
• Hardy perennial sweet pea Lathyrus latifolius ‘White Pearl’ has all-white blooms. It doesn’t have a perfume yet consistently returns year after year and blooms until the fall. BUY NOW

How to grow and care for sweet pea flowers

When your sweet pea seedlings are about 10 cm tall after spring sowing, you can pinch out the tips to help them develop into vigorous, bushy plants with lots of flowering side shoots. Just above a pair of leaves, place the growing point at the top of the stem between your finger and thumb, squeeze it, and snip it off. Avoid pinching the tips of plants seeded in the fall.

Prepare your seedlings and plugs for growing outdoors by hardening them off after there is no possibility of frost, often starting in late May. To help them get acclimated to the cooler weather, this entails leaving them outside during the day and bringing them inside at night for about a week.

Their final growing location should be in a sunny, open area with fertile soil that has good drainage. Because they climb, annual sweet peas require a support to develop. trellis, netting, a cane teepee, a border obelisk, or a garden arch are typical examples. Plant the sweet peas 15-20 cm apart, 5 cm from the base of the support you’ve chosen.

If grown in pots, plant the compost with some slow-release fertilizer to keep the plants healthy all season. Keep the plants well-watered and keep an eye out for slug and snail damage.

Sweet pea blossoms should be secured to their support as they enlarge using garden twine or support rings. Once the sweet pea blooms begin to bloom, routinely treat them with tomato fertilizer. Continue picking flowers throughout the summer because the more you pick, the more are generated.

Do sweet peas come back every year?

Sweet pea blooms come in annual and perennial varieties. Lathyrus odoratus, an annual plant that must be sown from seed every year, is typically a climber with a strong fragrance. Every spring, the perennial or “everlasting” varieties of Lathyrus latifolius reappear, however the majority of them have little or no perfume. Some don’t climb; they are bushy.