The beloved and cheery annual known as the sweet pea boasts fragrant flowers that come in a ton of colors and vines that cascade over planters and structures. But it can be difficult to grow.
What if you could give your sweet peas a boost to ensure the plants weren't "all vine and few flowers"? Giving them a head-start indoors this year could be the key.
The two basic kinds of sweet peas — the old-fashioned ones and the "Spencer" varieties — look and smell different in your flower gardens. The old-fashioned types have smaller flowers and ones like the perennial wild sweet pea, isn't as fragrant.
Other old-fashioned sweet pea types, like "Cupani," "America" and "Miss Wilmott," have more intense fragrance. These can also grow to look a bit rangy, with lots of leggy tendrils and look best when used on a structure or fence.
The larger "Spencer" types are best if you love to snip sweet peas to use as cut flowers. And in order to have plenty of posies, the plants will need your assistance as they grow: tie the stems and pinch the plants' tendrils. This will create even longer stems that are perfect for cutting.
Or you can create a rustic dome of bent branches and then grow some varieties like the "Windsor," ''Mollie Rilstone" or "Beaujolais," which grow plentiful, ruffled flowers.
When to put your sweet peas into the soil or start them indoors
As far as starting sweet peas in the garden, they're peas, so you'll be planting them from seed early, around the same time you do garden peas, which is mid- to late April, depending on where you are. And do note that sweet pea seeds are poisonous if eaten, so use care around children and pets.
You can also start growing sweet peas indoors, so long as you have a cool enough room and some lights. You can start in early March, or roughly six weeks before you're ready to put them into the soil.
Start off by nicking the sweet pea seeds with a nail file and soaking them overnight in water. That'll enhance the germination process. Then, get a 4-inch-deep pot and fill it with potting soil. Place 15 to 20 sweet pea seeds in the soil and place them in a cool room or basement (think 40 degrees Fahrenheit), and under lights. This helps the plants form really solid roots and that serve them well when you transplant into your garden.
By mid-April, you'll have plants that are strong, and transplant well. At that point, separate them out, put them in the garden, and you'll have a nice crop of sweet peas this year.
10 best low-maintenance veggies to grow
Q: I am just wondering what you would consider the five (or 10?) best vegetables for low-maintenance and high resilience here in Vermont. I'm guessing the list would include: zucchini, radishes, kale/arugula, but am unsure what else to focus on. Thank you for considering my question, I look forward to getting the new book. - Aydan and Meredith, in Worcester
A: Any leafy greens, like kale, arugula, Swiss chard, lettuces and even basil are great choices. And you can purchase the transplants so you don't need to guess when to plant seed!
Other easy-to-grow and resilient plants that do well in our climate are any of the bush beans, like green beans and pole beans. Cherry tomatoes will also produce in abundance.
And you can try summer squashes, zucchinis and peppers - the hot ones are easier to grow than sweet peppers! And, in the fall, start a crop of garlic, which will overwinter and produce a crop for you the following summer.
Try planting these and you'll be on your way to a great crop of vegetables and herbs this year!
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