Sowing sweet peas

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Sowing sweet peas
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Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 05 10:20 am Post subject: Re: Sowing sweet peas

Bugs wrote:

Do flowers count as downsizing???

definitely - if it stops you having to buy air freighted Kenyan roses from Waitrose or where-ever Also they encorage bees and beneficial insects in to the garden. She says having spent much of saturday digging out her new cutting garden

ready for the sweet peas to go in!

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 05 10:26 am Post subject:

Sweet peas are absolutely essential - can't imagine a summer without them. My no. 1 favourite is called Matucana - one of the very early varieties from the 1700s. Two-tone purple, easy to grow and the most heavenly scent you have ever smelled.

I have a tray of a bog standard mix on the windowsill at the moment. These are destined for the veg garden, while the matucana will be closer to the house for picking. I just sow them without bottom heat - might take a couple of weeks if it is cold, but they always come up eventually.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 05 10:33 am Post subject:

I love the way everyone's got so defensive about their sweet peas - needn't feel embarassed any more

I don't buy flowers though (and refuse to have them bought for me

) so flowers from the garden are a pleasant addition rather than a substitute.

I've put two pots in Wisley style, one is Painted Lady and the other some lilac blue one; these are in the greenhouse unless it gets cold again. Then I've got 20 plants in roottrainers in the house. Should they all grow I'll be able to find homes for them all but I'm not counting my chickens

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 05 11:53 am Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

Should they all grow I'll be able to find homes for them all but I'm not counting my chickens

Chickens rather like sweet peas too!

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 10:12 am Post subject:
SR reccommends mantucana, cupani, painted lady, black night, lord nelson, janet scott, gipsy queen and mrs collier. It's a very good book, if you want to grow flowers for picking (borrow it from the library, its about 20 quid) and most varieties are available from places other than SR's website, which is extorntionate!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 12:34 pm Post subject:
I've seen the Cutting Gardne (is that the right name) in discount shops for �3-4...quite tempted, but I really shouldn't buy any more books, let alone one on flowers... At least book buying is constructive. My sister owns more pairs of shoes than she can remember...I actually suspect Treacodactyl owns more shoes than me.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 05 12:54 pm Post subject:

That's the one, don't tell TD I said so (I don't need any more telling off for encouraging other people to buy books, I get told off enough for buying my own!) but it's avery good read. Trouble is, you end up wanting space for a cuttings patch too! I am gradually turing all my borders over to cut flowers and herbs (the ones that aren't full of veggies, anyway) I like the idea of planting things that have uses in the house, even if its only decorative (although the border between cut flowers and herbs is a bit blurred!)

It's a lovely book to curl up in front of the fire with too (now I'm really going to be in trouble) I bought a pair of shoes last week as well! With high heels! I presume bugs will not be following my example, but I've got a couple of job inteviews next week, and need to make myself look employable (and young and trendy, which is a lot harder!)

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 9:55 pm Post subject:
Ok, girls, speaking as a bloke, I love sweet peas, have grown them every year for at least 15 years, always from seed. My wife isn't that fussed about gardening, but I cut the stems daily, and put bunches in vases in every room all through the season. I always collect the seeds at the end, but can never find them the following spring!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 05 5:34 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

That's the one, don't tell TD I said so (I don't need any more telling off for encouraging other people to buy books

Just between me and you, I'll have a look next time I go in to town. You never know. TD doesn't read anything I write here anyway so we're perfectly safe

Well, cheers to all the helpful advice on here - my sweet peas in rootrainers, accompanied by Parsley Pea and Sugar Ann sugar snaps, have germinated pretty well - a mix I put in is doing especially well, almost all have come up looking good, Painted Lady is rather slower and I'm a bit disappointed with my Kent Blue peas from the HDRA, but we'll see. This is the best looking crop of sweet pea seedlings I've had ever (personally) so onwards and upwards, here's to a beautiful gallery of pics in the summer

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Mar 30, 05 5:35 pm Post subject:

Madman wrote:

Ok, girls, speaking as a bloke, I love sweet peas, have grown them every year for at least 15 years, always from seed.

So Madman, now I've got my seedlings, what would you suggest I do with them next? They're indoors at the moment ...

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 05 12:22 am Post subject:
You could be sensible and start hardening them off, or mix them with wax, fire them at the pidgeons with a slingshot, and buy hardier varieties to plant out earlier, like mine.

mrsnesbitt

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1576

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 05 12:24 am Post subject:

Tristan

Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 392
Location: North Gloucestershire

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 05 10:09 pm Post subject:
Don't worry Madman, I'm a sweetpea addict too! There is something about the regimented lines, routine, severe training etc etc. ooer!

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 05 10:27 pm Post subject:
Tristan, sit in a dark room and flap yourself with a damp lettuce!

Tristan

Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 392
Location: North Gloucestershire

Posted: Thu Mar 31, 05 10:34 pm Post subject:

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