How To Grow Sweet Pea

It is easy to grow sweet peas in your landscape or as a pollinator-drawing plant in your garden. They are beautiful and fragrant and perfect for adding a pop of color. You can embellish a large back wall or fence with sweet peas as an easy decoration. Sweet peas make an excellent cut flower for bouquets. Learning how to grow sweet pea is very easy.

Make sure you choose a sweet pea variety that will complement the area you are growing it in. With a wide variety of colors, you’re sure to find the right shade for your front porch or entertainment area in the summer. Sweet peas love the heat and will grow well in warm, humid climates while still being able to thrive in a cooler climate.

What are sweet peas?

Sweet peas are a beautiful annual flower that makes a great addition to cutting gardens, climbing trellises in flower gardens, and even as companion plants in your tomato garden. Sweet peat is easy to grow and fast to climb and fill in trellises to make your landscaping really pop. The flowers can even be used to make a mild floral tea.

How to grow sweet peas

Despite being relatively low feeders, sweet peas should be planted with soil that has been amended with fresh compost to make sure they receive ample nutrition to thrive.

To maximize drainage, the soil should be well-draining, not clay-heavy, and enriched with plenty of organic matter such as leaves and wood chips from years past so as to retain moisture for both drainage and hydration. You can prevent weed growth and add moisture to the soil by putting a thick layer of mulch around your sweet peas.

You will need to provide a lot of support to the sweet pea as it grows quickly. Plant your trellises as soon as you can for the most successful results. To remain stable, these plants will need to be tied to the trellises.

Make sure to space your sweet peats eight inches apart in order to enable their roots to expand. The flowering vines will quickly fill in the gaps once they have climbed up the trellises.

Once your sweet pea plants have produced several sets of true leaves, pinch out the center stem to encourage it to bush out at the base and grow larger and fuller. Providing your sweet peas with weekly fertilizer will help to encourage their average growth of 1 foot per week. Fertilize your sweet peas with compost tea, fish emulsion, or a strong organic liquid fertilizer to help them grow and thrive.

Water is essential to the growth of sweet peas. You can provide your sweet peas with sufficient water by using soaker hoses with a timer so that they are not left without the water they need, especially when a drought strikes. In order for your sweet peas to reach their full potential, it is imperative that you do this.

How to start sweet peas from seed

Soaking sweet pea seeds for 24 hours before planting is necessary if you are starting from seed. Increasing your seeds’ germination rate is possible by softening the seed coat. Your seeds should be soaked for at least 12 hours before starting, so they can grow well in larger seed starting containers with at least four inches of depth.

When planting seeds indoors, choose a quality potting mix that drains well. Start your seeds 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost. It is possible for you to start seeds outdoors in the fall directly into the soil after soaking in a warmer climate.

How to grow sweet peas in containers

Providing that it has enough space and support, sweet pea can flourish in a container. You should plant sweet peas in large pots, 10 to 12 inches wide, and hang them from a large trellis or place them together with a large archway to provide them with the support they need to grow strong.

Make sure the pot on your potted sweet peas has adequate drainage and make sure the sweet peas are well watered every day. If you tend to forget to water your potted plants, you can use watering globes and mulch or a self-watering pot to keep your sweet peas from drying out and stunting their growth.

How to grow sweet peas in hanging baskets

You can grow sweet peas in a hanging basket if you want a plant that will bloom and grow large bunches. It is important to provide sweet peas with ample water. Plants hanging from the ceiling are often neglected.

Put a timer on your misting system or set an alarm so your sweet peas will receive plenty of water so they can flourish in their handing containers. Peas are most successful when they get plenty of sun, so they look amazing on a south-facing porch or patio.

How to grow sweet peas indoors

House plants, especially bright and cheerful ones, appeal to a great many people. Sweet peas can be an attractive addition to your home plants by hanging them in pots. The most important thing to remember when growing sweet peas indoors is that they need plenty of sunlight to grow.

You can achieve this by placing them in direct sunlight, such as in a southern-facing window, or using a grow light to help them receive the necessary light to grow.

In addition to the full spectrum of LED grow bulbs available in bright white, they can be blended into your expected lighting to provide the light your indoor plants need. Biologically, sweet pea can thrive in humid environments, including bathrooms and kitchens.