Sweet pea advice

[jayne10b]

Hi
Last year I planted some sweet peas on a wigwam in a pot. They grew splendidly and flowered profusely.

However near the bottom the leaves turned yellowy and brown and eventually dropped off which made the overall effect less attractive.

Does anyone know why this happened and what I can do to avoid it this year?

TIA

Jayne

[TaffetasCatCameBack]

Its the way sweet peas are, you can't prevent it, but you can plant a low grower around it so it disguises it, I do this each year and it works well.

[cornsilk678]

I was going to start a sweet pea thread is it too early to put them out in the garden?

[TaffetasCatCameBack]

I sowed mine direct last week, cornsilk. Previously, I've sown them in rootrainers in Feb and then planted out once pinched out in April. I couldn't be arsed didn't have much space this year, so thought I'd try doing them direct. We'll see how successful it is.....

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I'm thinking of not bothering with the root-trainers this year - I'm not convinced you get any better plants than you would with direct sowing. To my amazement, I've just found self-sown sweet peas in last year's pot - I know they're tough and can be overwintered from an autumn sowing but am still amazed that they got through all the snow and frost.

[cornsilk678]

what do you mean by pinched? I'm new to this gardening lark. It was really cold last night and there was a frost but they didn't die, so I think I'll put the rest in next weekend.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Pinching out means pinching off the tip of the stem (do it with your fingers rather than with scissors) once the plant is about four to six inches tall - the plant will then grow from sideshoots rather than being only long, thin stem and so you will get a bushier plant that will be better for covering a wigwam.

See Royal Horticultural Society advice here

[TaffetasCatCameBack]

Yes pinching out is pinching off the top of the plant with your thumb and forefinger, its important to do it with lots of seedlings if you want a bushy plant, from cosmos to chillis to sweet peas. As comeinto says, it creates a bushy wide plant with lots of flowers/fruit, rather than one long spindly vertical stem with a few flowers/fruits.

[cornsilk678]

oooh thanks - mine are very spindly so will get pinching

[cornsilk678]

where exactly do I pinch them? I had a go but I felt bad for them.

[TaffetasWnakyCoatheadJumpsuit]

Ah yes, cornsilk, you must be brave!

Here - watch Sarah Raven do it

[cornsilk678]

well I have pinched the blighters and will wait and see...

[midnightexpress]

Oh, can I barge in and ask a sweet pea question? I'm growing them for the first time from seed. We're in Scotland so I've put them in root-trainers to start off and they've all germinated but are incredibly loooong (about 5cms, and the first true leaves are just budding. Is that normal? We're in a basement flat, so I'm just a bit worried that they are leggier than they should be at this stage and will start to flop over soon.