Sweet peas in pots

As we still get late frosts here at the end of April I don’t start any tender plants indoors until the first week in April. It means they are later than most going out, but they get too leggy indoors, flop around and don’t thrive.
You’re right though, I haven’t seen bunches of sweet peas for sale for many years.
I grew tomatoes and they looked amazing, then I went down to the greenhouse one morning and the plants had gone brown the next day the tomatoes had also started to turn brown, this year I’ll try them outdoors, if they don’t survive then I won’t bother again.
I suspect that the birds and rabbits will end up eating them if they are outside. We will see.

I have sweet peas in pots and they have come up three years in a row. They are scentless ones, which I hadn't realised. I've checked recently and two of the pots are showing signs of life. I have grown them on the basis of benign neglect! I live in central Scotland so not a warm climate. They are in quite a protected area though.

Sweet peas are frost resistant, mine are in the cold frame now, they are planted out in April (Monty does this, I tried it for the first time last year and they were fine, I’d always waited until May before). I’ve never tried them in pots, but I’d imagine they must need large ones, as they are deep rooted.

Thank you, all.
Sympathies over the tomatoes, Oopsadaisy1 - I must say that although I managed to avoid blight, my last two lots of tomatoes were decidedly disappointing, flavour wise anyway. Just not worth all the faff.

Yes, Casdon, they’ll need very big pots - I already have one I can use, but will almost certainly need another - I thought no more than 6 to a roughly 42 cm (internal) diameter pot. If most of them come up I’ll have to give some away.

We’re in SW London and the garden is very sheltered anyway, so planting out in April should be fine. We don’t have a greenhouse or cold frame - space is very limited.

A trip to the garden centre is looming, for pot, new compost and canes to make ‘wigwams’. I’ll have to take dh, for porter duties!

I don’t know whether any particular feed would be best. My keen gardener mother always swore by tomato food for any flowers, but if anyone’s got any better ideas I’d be pleased to hear them.

I don’t think l will bother growing tomatoes this year as l had some lovely ones last year, still at the green stage but plentiful. Unfortunately we looked after our daughter’s Jack Russell and l noticed he was having a lovely time in the garden, l went out and realised he had carefully bitten off every single green tomato and was playing ball with them! I was not amused.

Grandmabatty

I have sweet peas in pots and they have come up three years in a row. They are scentless ones, which I hadn't realised. I've checked recently and two of the pots are showing signs of life. I have grown them on the basis of benign neglect! I live in central Scotland so not a warm climate. They are in quite a protected area though.

the scentless ones are perennial, the scented ones are annual

Monty Don is the option to ask about sweet peas.
He grew hundreds for a wedding .

I used to grow them in the ground with success and then planted them out in troughs one hot
summer day and disaster .
They never recovered .
Plant out - well after the last frost .
Pinch out the tops to encourage lateral growth .
Put the supports in first so that the roots aren't damaged .
Never allow to dry out .
Either water with Tomato Rite or use a slow release fertiliser like Vitax Q 4 .
Good luck .

Typo - read person for option !

Sweet peas! Lovely idea. I think last year was particularly bad for tomato blight. (North Surrey) all of mine gradually turned to mush outside.
Going to try outdoor cucumbers again. Used old seed last year and nothing happened ?

I tried growing tomatoes from seeds from supermarket tomatoes - just kept a couple of tomatoes back from putting in the salad. Although I did get plants from the seeds, not a single one produced any flowers, therefore no home grown tomatoes to enjoy! Any ideas why this might have happened?
I'm not an expert on gardening and usually just buy trays of bedding plants, but the month before lockdown started had bought one of those small greenhouses made of a frame with a clear PVC cover and grew bedding plants from seed (with varying degrees of success) as access to garden centres was not an option that first summer of lockdown. It was nice to plant out stuff I'd grown myself from seed.

I have grown Sweet Peas in containers for years with supports for them as they get bigger. They have provided a lovely show of flowers to cut for a good number of weeks over the summer into early autumn.

I have annual sweet peas in my garden, been there for years! They used to climb up a wooden frame but over the years it rotted away and I did not replace. Now I let it climb over some spring flowering bushes close by, they ramble naturally around the branches and look amazing when covered in flowers. I wait until they die down and dry up then yank the trailing stems off the bushes - they seem to thrive on neglect like they would in the wild!

Last year I collected some of the seeds in the pods and planted them in a patio plot. A year later they are now ready to transfer to the garden so hopefully I will have another “wild” corner to admire.

Sweet peas need a deep root run so use the deepest pots you have. I've had several goes at them over the years and last year's were fine till I went away for a few days and they'd dried right out by the time I got back. The lovely Arthur Parkinson always sows his sweet peas on Boxing Day. They're so fast-growing though that I think any time up till late March would be fine. Good luck!

Growing0ldDisgracefully

I tried growing tomatoes from seeds from supermarket tomatoes - just kept a couple of tomatoes back from putting in the salad. Although I did get plants from the seeds, not a single one produced any flowers, therefore no home grown tomatoes to enjoy! Any ideas why this might have happened?
I'm not an expert on gardening and usually just buy trays of bedding plants, but the month before lockdown started had bought one of those small greenhouses made of a frame with a clear PVC cover and grew bedding plants from seed (with varying degrees of success) as access to garden centres was not an option that first summer of lockdown. It was nice to plant out stuff I'd grown myself from seed.

They were F1 varieties and are unlikely to come back resembling the original tomatoes, or even to fruit at all. I think it works with some varieties but sadly not the ones you had!

We grow Sweet Peas in a large tub on our south facing patio. It's sheltered there. The tub has a 10' wigwam with a resident Clematis growing up it. The Sweet Peas mingle in with the Clematis, it's very pretty. We had masses of Sweet Peas last year I just had to remember to keep picking them or they go to seed! We water almost daily and feed them with tomato feed.

We too have given up growing tomatoes, the last two years crops were abysmal. They're so cheap in the shops it's not worth the effort, especially as it's only DH that eats them.

This year I want to try Dahlias and Chrysanthemums for some autumn colour. I'll try to ignore the earwigs!

Is anyone going to plant/grow a 'Jubilee' plant - tree or rose bush perhaps - to mark the occasion?

Sorry, forgot to mention, we replace about half the compost in the sweet pea tub every spring.

Love sweet peas but never grown from seed always bought plants. Some years they are really lovely and very prouse but seems like every other year they just die or else have very few flowers. Good luck with yours!
Have grown tomatoes in pots for years, I know they are so cheap and easy to buy but something special about eating those you've grown yourself.

We have grown Sweet Peas in a large container for the last few years, some years have been better than others, the weather has a lot to do with it. I love to pick a few little bunches to put around the house although they don’t last very long in a vase.
We have done well with Runner beans growing up a wigwam in a large container too.

I’ve tried growing sweet peas both in the beds and in a large pot. They always get some sort of grey mildew although lots of flowers so I’ve given up with them. My garden is north facing and although it gets plenty of sun in the summer when the sun is high in the sky I don’t think it’s enough for a lot of flowers, sweet peas especially.

When they get to about 4" pinch off the growing tip, they'll grow bushier, feed with tomato feed. And the more flowers you pick, the better, it encourages more flowers.

You do know that sweet peas aren't a vegetable don't you? Look online for expert advice one thing though, when in flower you must harvest blooms every day and snip off tendrils to redirect energy to flowers. Good luck it's worth it, they're divine!

Okay in large pots. Feed them with tomato ? feed (perhaps you have some left over)
Don’t overfeed. Start to harden seeds off from end of March. Just pop seed container outside during warmest few hours daily and start to leave out for longer time as time goes by. Re-plant in your chosen container when there’s no more chance of frost. Plant quite thickly and put 3 x 6ft bamboo poles in container and tie at top. Use thick knitting wool or string to loop around the poles, making it so there’s plenty of bits for the growing plants to climb up. And enjoy!
Also, plant some more indoors and either fill another container or eventually plant in same container!
Same technique for Runner Beans or high growing peas, like the variety called Alderman ( recommended ). But don’t put so many plants in the container. They need more room to grow than sweet peas

2nd Mummers sensible comments

I bring on inside, then plant them into troughs and planters as we don’t have clear ground- did all right last year and this year I am planning to use the seeds I gathered