Topic: When to put sweet peas out

[Tee Gee]

Surely they need the tendrils to climb?

Let me take you back to what I wrote previously;

Obviously if you remove the tendrils you will have to tie the stems in manually with sweet pea rings, twist ties or wind them around a suspended vertical string.

Lets see if I can clarify it a bit better;

The following picture is not ideal for explaining it but it is the best I have;



At the bottom of the picture note the end of a tendril that has been cut off, to the right of it is a tendril that I missed.

Note the green sweet pea ring (higher up) that is holding the stem back to the cane.

I hope this calarifies the situation better.

Sorry I didn't have a better picture example. Obviously when I took the picture I was photographing the flower not the mechanics of supporting sweet pes ;)

[laurieuk]

There is no law to say you MUST do anything in gardening, we all do things our own way.I want the best flowers and straight stems even though I give the flowers away. That means I remove the tendrils to stop them bending the stems, I don't believe it makes any difference to the flowers as there is so little substance to them, and tie twice a week to 8 ft canes, but this is only my way.
You can put seeds in let them go on pea-sticks and get many more flowers but not the quality.
We can only say what we do not what you should do.
As the song says "I did it my way".

[Tee Gee]

"I did it my way".

I totally agree Laurie.

I was taught if you find a way of growing things that suits you carry on with this method until you find a better way.

Obviously to find a better way you have to try other ways!

To do this; I don't put all my eggs in the one basket i.e. I just try a few plants using the new method and compare.

Then in future years I continue with the method I find best!

[laurieuk]

24 th April sweetpeas making good progress expect to start picking in about 3 weeks most years we pick first good bunch Chelsea flower show week. I like to tie just under leave stem to allow for upward growth. I layer when they are about five feet high.

[shirlton]

Nice looking plants Laurie. Mine are only half that size.I sowed them in November instead of the usual October. I can't believe the difference that a month has made. We have booked the hols for November this year so all should be back to normal next year.

[Becca]

yay, got first flower on one of my sweet pea plants.
Only have 6 outside though.
i really need to transplant the smaller ones i have.
Still dont get this training lark with them and may just leave them to it up the fence i think.
i just hope the slugs stay away from them.  i grew them in kitchen rolls and i think maybe this year the collar has given them some protection from nasty slugs.

[laurieuk]

 :( we cannot win them all, everything seemed to be going so well sweetpeas on schedule for first picking , then a week of cold rain and gale force wind and we end up with bud drop. They will get over it but it will delay full blooming for a week or so. The first picture is the dead buds resulting from bud-drop, the second one shows the next lot of buds waiting to open :(

[laurieuk]

The sweetpeas have now got to the top of the canes so need layering but as there are some good bloooms I am going to enter a few in a local flower show on Saturday. It must be about 12 years since I last showed sweetpeas so heres hoping I get it right.