Sweet Peas
‘There’s no ifs or maybes
I’ll never has babies
I’m Popeye the Sailor Man!”
How many men have said they’ll never has babies, and yet, Popeye, like so many others, welcomed Little Sweet Pea into his life when he arrived via the mail in 1933. He ‘adoptid’ the poor ‘infink’ who never seemed to grow any older over the ensuing decades. My husband enjoyed Little Swee’Pea in the comics, but I prefer sweet peas in the garden.
For the past couple of years I have planted sweet peas along my wire mesh garden fence where they can climb and where I can easily pick these delicate and fragrant blossoms.
Edible peas grow well in my garden soil which I enrich every year with compost and rotted chicken manure, but I always remind myself that sweet peas are heavy feeders and I dig in an extra shovelful along the fence before I plant.
We New Englanders don’t find sweet peas difficult to grow because our summers never get as hot as they do in more southern climes. The thing that surprised me, and made me worry the first time I planted sweet peas was the length of time it takes for them to germinate and send up little shoots. They can germinate in 10 days, but it might also take up to 28 days, the determinants being the weather and soil temperature
Then I learned that they welcome some help in germinating. I soaked them overnight, but Renee Sheperd, owner of Renee’s Garden Seeds which includes a large selection of sweet pea varieties, says that scarifying them insures the best results. To scarify a seed means to break the skin of the shell, sometimes with a little file. Shepard recommends making a tiny nick with a nail clipper. This allows moisture into the seed and thus good germination.
Like any newly planted seed, it is essential that sweet peas be kept damp. As they grow they should be watered well, early in the day, as they set buds. In fact, all garden watering should be done early in the day so the plants will be dry by evening, thus preventing problems with mildew.
Two things can be done as the seedlings start to grow. The first I personally find very difficult, and that is thinning so that there is five or six inches between plants. I find it as difficult to pull out seedlings as I do to prune. This character flaw is carried over into my housekeeping as well.
The second is that once you have thinned the sweet peas and they have four sets of true leaves the top set should be pinched off so that the plant will branch and give you more flower stems.
Sweet peas are an old fashioned flower, but they retain their allure. For their current issue Horticulture Magazine asked 35 plant experts to choose their favorite plants to grow from seed; Josh Kirschenbaum of the Territorial Seed company, picked sweet peas, mentioning that while most varieties are tall, vining types there are also low growing varieties that are good for the front of the border or for containers. ‘Color Palette Cupid’ is one such petite sweet pea mixture that comes in pale shades of white and pink, but with a few deep purple blooms as well.
I never considered sweet peas for containers, but Sheperd says they work well if you fertilize every two weeks during the growing season. They can be planted more closely together in a pot, every four inches, and need to be given support for the tall vining varieties.
Fragrance is very important to me so I have always been careful to choose varieties like ‘Jewel of Albion’ with flowers in shades of mauve and deep blue, and ‘Queen of the Night’ which is billed as super-fragrant and comes in a range of deep colors, including dark blue, dark red and salmon pink.
‘Black Knight’ is perhaps the most deeply colored of the fragrant sweet peas with blossoms of deep purple.
For those who prefer paler shades there is the scented ‘April in Paris’ which is a pale cream with a lilac flush. ‘Blue Celeste’ is pale blue, and has large exhibition size blooms. The name ‘Pastel Sunset’ says it all, flowers in shades of peach, lilac, cream and pink.
If you want a little history in your garden you might choose ‘Garden Orchids’ which were grown by Thomas Jefferson. These vines can reach a height of 9 feet or more with clusters of delicate flowers in shades of white, pink and carmine-rose.
Like any annual, sweet peas can and should be picked. Don’t hesitate to pick bouquets. The more they are picked, the more flowers will be formed. Remember the job of annual flowers is to produce seed. Picking prevents the creation of seed, and insures that more flowers will be set until finally seed is set. Once you stop picking and allow seed to be set the plant will stop blooming. So keep picking.
Sources: At your local garden center; Renee’s Garden Seeds, online catalog www.reneesgarden.com; Select Seeds, 180 Stickney Hill Rd, Union, CT 06076-4617, www.selectseeds.com; Sweet Pea Gardens, 614 Surry Rd, Surry, ME 04684 www.sweetpeagardens.com; Territorial Seed Company, PO Box 158, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 www.territorialseed.com .
January 26, 2008