Sweetpeas

[Blinkyy]

I bought this little pot of sweet peas recently at the garden centre - can I just plant them out (with protection on frosty nights) or should I pot them on to larger pots for a few more weeks ?. I feel potting them on will set them back.

Pics

Where in the garden centre were they? Outside with no protection, or within a greenhouse/covered area?

If they were undercover, I'd put them in a cold frame and open the lid daily for a few days, then plant out. If they were already fully outside, I'd just plant them out now.

I wouldn’t plant out until mid May at least.

Potting on won’t set them back noticeably. Too much early growth makes them leggy anyway; better to be late than early with young plants.

They were under cover but the label states can withstand light frost. Good point about getting them outside -I have them in the greenhouse

Monty Don last night mentioned waiting a few weeks before planting out sweetpeas - as I'm in Scotland I'll repot and wait a bit longer.

They look lovely and heathy, OP ! Mine are out in the garden in a sheltered but sunny space in a south facing garden in London - they are a week earlier than usual due to some external timing factors, so I’m crossing my fingers a bit.

I'm in the north east and mine have been planted out for a couple of weeks, they're tougher than you think. They were sown in an unheated greenhouse though so only needed a little hardening off - yours might take a bit longer if they've been grown in a warmer spot.

Pinch the tops out to encourage lateral shoots.

I haven't planted this years seeds yet but in one of my deep garden pots some of lasts years have self seeded . I'll see how they get on they're in a sheltered sunny spot and gave them more compost

I went for it and planted mine out yesterday. They'd been outside in a pot for two weeks and I've still got spares left just in case! I have a sheltered garden in the south west.

I've put some out but have sowed more and may well yet so another batch this week