For many years, I watched fall frost kill my sweet peas, even though they were still blooming. My Zone 2 garden often gets a frost in early September.
How maddening to see the plants cut down just as they were coming into peak production.
A few years ago, I wondered if sweet peas could be started early indoors like other annuals. Garden centres rarely offer sweet peas as spring bedding plants, but I decided to experiment.
On April 1, I planted sweet pea seeds in reused plastic cell packs: the large ones whose cells are about six centimetres square and eight cm deep. Using a soilless mix, I planted one seed per pack. Sweet peas object to being transplanted so I wanted to avoid having to transplant seedlings into pots after the seeds germinated.
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I germinated the sweet peas in my light garden, although since then I have also germinated them on the south-facing windowsills of my all-season sunroom. Higher temperatures speed germination.
I kept the planting medium moist and within two weeks, germination had occurred. It was rather sporadic but I was able to pop the plugs out of the cell to create full packs of seedlings. I had planted more than I needed so I was not worried about the few seeds that did not germinate.
I did notice that the seedlings grew quickly and before long became tall and spindly. Now, as soon as two or three sets of true leaves have developed, I pinch off the top of each seedling just above the second or third set of true leaves and then move the plants to the outdoor cold frame.
There, the seedlings are subjected to full sun, cooler temperatures and lots of fresh air, producing sturdy plants. The seedlings, after being pinched back, bush out to produce plants that have four or five stems each.
I feed and water the seedlings regularly until about May 1, when I plant the seedlings into the garden. I choose a cloudy day to reduce stress on the plants. The plants are easily popped out of the cells without disturbing the roots and are planted about 15 cm apart along both sides of my permanent sweet pea fence.
The first sweet pea buds appear by the end of June and by early July, I have enough sweet pea blooms for a bouquet.
The plants continue to bloom until frost, and if the first frost holds off until later in September, my sweet peas will have pretty much bloomed themselves out.
I now don’t shed a tear as Jack Frost claims them in the fall because I will have enjoyed fully two and sometimes almost three months of bloom from my “started indoors early” sweet peas.
