Sundays at Mena's: How to Grow Sweet Peas!

Philomena Asante
Feb 8
2 min read

Updated: Feb 23

Hello flower friends!

Despite the bone chilling weather, spring will be here in a couple of months! So its time to start your seeds. One of my favorite things to grow are sweet pea 🫛flowers! Now these are not the ones you eat! This is "Lathyrus Odoratus," a colorful fragrant cool weather loving climbing vine. You want to start the seeds NOW and put them in the ground just as the daffodills are coming up...Here are my tips for growing after many failures ( these instructions are geared for the beginning home gardener who wants to start learning to grow flowers)

Some suggest soaking the seeds for 24 hrs before putting them in a seed tray. I never do but it may help with germination. I buy my seeds online from https://www.rareseeds.com or from my local garden store. I would start with buying enough seeds for one 50 cell seed tray.
Use seed trays that have allow for deep roots (see video)
Use good potting soil. If you really want to invest in high quality potting soil, https://www.floretflowers.com has come up with a soil amendment recipe with ingredients to add to your potting soil!
Sow seeds 0.5 in deep in the soil. DON'T use a heat mat but make sure the room temperatureis between 50 & 55 degrees. You want the seeds to get used to cold weather from the get go!
You need to use LED grow lights but place them just 2 inches above the seed tray. You want the seeds to grow short & stout not tall & thin as they reach the light If they grow tall a you can pinch them and force them to grow wide not tall.
A few days before transplant move the trays to the garage or unheated space to harden them off. This helps the little seedlings get used to the cold weather faster.
Transplant when the nighttime temps are consistently above 20 degrees or when the daffodils start to grow (usually mid to late April in my zone 6b)!
Sweet Peas need a trellis to climb on! You can use a chicken wire fence or tee pea!