Annuals Cosmos and Sweet Pea

Peter553

Hi I have sown annuals Cosmos and Sweet Pea for first time should i leave them be in existing pots or should I transfer them. See attached. Any thoughts ? Peter

LisaJ73

Leave the cosmos alone for now.  I'm waiting until mine have their first true leaves before putting them into their own pot/module.

The sweetpeas look a bit wee to be moving too.

Peter553

Thanks Lisa much appreciated.

dannyandshaz

Hi peter 553,

The sweet peas,

Now i dont know if your a long time gardener or just wanting to learn so im going for the latter,

You've not said what kind of sweet pea you've got growing,

You get many types but lets just bring it down to the more understandable,

(a) carpet low growing and (b) the climbing type.

The carpet ones have like all sweet peas long roots but the top growth is more of a flatter nature, great for troughs and growing lower down we're they can be seen,

(b) The climbers,

Now to grow these from seed a good tip is to save all your used loo roll carbourd rolls,

sweet pea's love to have long deep hanging roots and when you sow the seed near the top of the (filled with compost) loo rolls these roots are set and ready for you to plant the complete roll to its full depth into the planting area, once you've done this the plant will start to grow like hell and work at climbing.

Remember to pinch out the small centre of each flower head to allow the plant to become bushy,

Tip.

Once a month water the ground around the base of the plant with 2x table spoons of "EPSON SALT" in a gallon of warmish water,

and the plant will really thank you for it, the same tip for roses "they just love the mineral value of the salt.

Good gardening Peter and let us know how the sweet peas get on.

Fairygirl

Hi Peter - the sweet peas are only just germinated. Don't worry about them. In a few weeks they'll be a nice size and ready to plant out where you want them. No need to pinch them out, or separate them. Just plant the whole potful at the base of the support you have for them. I'm assuming you have two or three in each little pot?

Keep them well watered and fed [tomato food is ideal as it promotes flower production] throughout the summer and they'll reward you well. They benefit from good hearty soil and lots of food. If you can , you can add some well rotted manure to the area you're planting them in, whether it's a big pot or directly in the ground. That gets them off to a good start.
Deadhead as often as possible too, to keep new flowers coming. 

Lyn

I agree with  @Fairygirl.  Leave the cosmos until they are about 3 to 4” tall and have some feathery leaves on the pot separately bury deep almost up to the first set of leaves, you can pick the middles out when they have 2/3 sets of real leaves. 
The cosmos don’t need any feed, if you feed them you will get lots of green and not many flowers, they thrive on poorer soil. 

Peter553

Many thanks to all for response.
Peter