Sweet Pea (flowers) and my 4 x 4 bed - Good idea or bad idea?

Windmere 4/1/2014, 12:18 pm

Last fall I planted some sweet peas in the corners of my 4 x 4 beds. My idea was that I could have them vine around my garden on my PVC hoops and some other trellises. I thought it would be nice to have a splash of color and some pleasant scents.

The sweet peas over wintered very well. They've actually gotten quite large. One in particular is monstrous. I am actually shocked that they withstood our bitter weather (planting them right before winter was an experiment).

Has anyone raised sweet peas in the SFG? I could not find info about how much space should be reserved for them in a SFG.

Any advice would be much appreciated!! Smile

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/1/2014, 1:24 pm

I love sweet peas, but haven't had much luck trying to get them to grow around here. Good luck!

**sanderson** 4/1/2014, 1:33 pm

My guess would be 8-9 like eating peas. They are so, so beautiful.

southern gardener 4/1/2014, 1:38 pm

I did 24 feet of them a few years ago up a trellis and they were BEAUTIFUL!! You could smell them when you went out the back door. We literally picked hundreds of flowers, and so did our friends. If I remember correctly, we planted them 4" apart the whole length of the bed and it was PACKED full. I don't know that I'd put much more than that, I'd be afraid of overcrowding. Good luck! I have one plant growing now, and it's easily covering about 2 squares!!

Sweet Pea (flowers) and my 4 x 4 bed - Good idea or bad idea? Sweetp10

Windmere 4/1/2014, 6:30 pm

@southern gardener wrote:I did 24 feet of them a few years ago up a trellis and they were BEAUTIFUL!! You could smell them when you went out the back door. We literally picked hundreds of flowers, and so did our friends. If I remember correctly, we planted them 4" apart the whole length of the bed and it was PACKED full. I don't know that I'd put much more than that, I'd be afraid of overcrowding. Good luck! I have one plant growing now, and it's easily covering about 2 squares!!

Wow, the shot you posted are beautiful southern gardener. I only have one or two planted in the same square. I truly did not expect the seeds to germinate and get through our winter days that times were in the teens.

Sanderson, your estimate sounds about right, but I might let the monstrous one alone. Somewhere, I have a diagram of my beds and I wrote down exactly which variety I planted and where (I planted four). One for sure that I know I planted I got from Renee's Garden. It's a bush variety.

http://www.amazon.com/Container-Electric-Blue-Sweet-Seeds/dp/B002PDDGAQ/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1396391225&sr=8-11&keywords=renees+garden+sweet+pea

My daughter was especially excited about that one because of the "electric blue" color.

Hopefully my experiment with these will work! Wink

Marc Iverson 4/1/2014, 7:40 pm

Really pretty.

I especially like the idea of flowers at the front of the bed, or the side nearest the house. Maybe even better if some are trailing, like some nasturtiums. That way the first thing you see when looking out at or walking up to the beds is a splash of greenery and beautiful color. Veggies and herbs often look nice, but it's hard to beat the cheery first impression an eyeful of flowers makes.

Yours are such a cool color that they look like a success to me!

**walshevak** 4/1/2014, 9:32 pm

Just don't let anyone eat any peas that may develop. They are toxic.

http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/giftflowers/flowersandfragrances/sweet-pea

Kay

Windmere 4/1/2014, 11:02 pm

@walshevak wrote:Just don't let anyone eat any peas that may develop. They are toxic.

http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/giftflowers/flowersandfragrances/sweet-pea

Kay

Thanks Kay for the link. I did not know the peas are toxic.

Well, the plants are really taking off having been planted in Mel's Mix. (No surprise right?) I am hoping, though, that with such rich soil, I do not end up with an excess of greenery as opposed to an abundance of flowers. Oh well, regardless, I think this will be fun to try!

slimbolen99 4/2/2014, 4:33 am

Where did you get your sweet pea seeds / plants? I cannot find any locally. Yours look great.

southern gardener 4/2/2014, 10:27 am

@slimbolen99 wrote:Where did you get your sweet pea seeds / plants? I cannot find any locally. Yours look great.

slim, not sure you're speaking to me, but if so, I got mine at Lowe's. I've seen them at Home Depot as well. I normally plant mine in September for Spring, but I'm in So Calif. Good luck!

Windmere 4/2/2014, 12:26 pm

@slimbolen99 wrote:Where did you get your sweet pea seeds / plants? I cannot find any locally. Yours look great.

Slimbolen99, if you cannot find them in your area, Amazon can be a good resource. I bought our seeds from Lowes and Amazon.

I read that they do not transplant well, so it is probably best to direct sow them. Also, they do poorly in hot weather. I planted ours in September like southern gardener. Like I mentioned earlier, they did not get phased by winter weather in the teens (I covered them when temps were that low... but left them uncovered if temps were in the 20's or higher).

I wish you much success if you decide to grow some!

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Sweet Pea (flowers) and my 4 x 4 bed - Good idea or bad idea?

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Re: Sweet Pea (flowers) and my 4 x 4 bed - Good idea or bad idea?

Amazon is a good resource too

Re: Sweet Pea (flowers) and my 4 x 4 bed - Good idea or bad idea?


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