Sweet peas

Unknown

Hi Pauline!  Not daft at all, it's how we learn, by asking questions! 

Yes, the pods contain the seeds....here's a reliable link for you

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=464

I usually sow my seed directly into a few big outdoor pots in March.  Never fails.  Yes, the flowers are later than plants raised in a greenhouse or overwintered in a cold frame, but they catch up eventually! I'm picking around 2 big bunches of flowers every day, now, because the more you pick, the more you get!

I've always found them the easiest flowers to grow, but some people find them tricky.

Best of luck! 

Dovefromabove

Sweet pea pods are ripe and ready to harvest when they dry ... turning brown and begin to split open ... it's a good idea to get a paper bag (not plastic) and pop it over the pods (securing with a rubber band) you want to harvest as they begin to turn brown, otherwise they may split and scatter the seeds before you've got them.  

I was initially a little confused ... you know they're not edible don't you?  I'm sure you do ... but just thought I'd mention it in case someone who doesn't know that comes along later and misunderstands. 

Ladybird4

Hi Pauline. If you harvest the seed from your plants this year and then sow them next March, you may find when they flower that they do not look like the flowers you have had this year. The bees - doing their pollinating job -will have happily jumbled up all the sweetpea pollen - even importing some from other gardens growing sweetpeas.

Plus, if the plants have started to produce seed pods now they will stop flowering, considering that their job has been done. This is why sweetpea growers advise you to pick and pick and pick, stimulating the plants into producing more flowers.

If you want a specific blend of colours, then I would go for buying the seeds.

Sorry if I'm teaching Grandma to suck eggs here Pauline

Last edited: 31 July 2017 12:05:34

Fairygirl

Better to buy good quality seed for next year as Ladybird says. That way, you get what you've sown and not a mixture. If you fancy doing some from the plants you have, just harvest them as you would any other seed - when the pod is ripe and opening  

You can sow early undercover - even on windowsills, but you can save time and effort by sowing direct in March/April depending on where you are in the country and what your conditions are like. 

I sow direct in April - sowing early undercover is never really worth for me while as the plants sit and sulk anyway, and the direct sown ones catch up. Our climate up here is too cool for any growth until well into May. 

Ladybird4

Sowing seeds can become very addictive Pauline but it can be great fun too.