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Are these really sweet peas?

jfwXLMFqfLxjfwXLMFqfLx Posts: 3
edited May 2022 in Fruit & veg
Hi my first time growing sweet peas this year. Picked up 2 sets of plugs from the garden centre in March and planted them out, where they've been doing well. Now they've grown, onee set of plugs is definitely sweet pea, but one looks totally different, has pure white flowers that quickly go to seed that look like mangetout. I wonder if they were mistakenly labelled? 

I've been pulling these off as they appear. On the one hand I don't want to waste these if they are not sweet pea and are in fact edible. On the other hand the last thing I want is to eat a glut of them and end up with health issues if they are indeed sweet pea. Any advice appreciated.

Here are the ones I think may not be sweet pea. How can I positively identify what they are:


this is the other set of plugs. They've been growing more slowly and have yet to flower. The stems are flatter. I think these are definitely sweet pea. 
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Posts

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 21,661
    They look like edible peas, not sweet peas, but I don't know which variety.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,688
    edited May 2022
    They look like edible peas to me, but I wouldn't eat them unless I was sure.

    Sweet Peas are poisonous.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • jfwXLMFqfLxjfwXLMFqfLx Posts: 3
    punkdoc said:
    They look like edible peas to me, but I wouldn't eat them unless I was sure.

    Sweet Peas are poisonous.
    Therein lies my dilemma! 
  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    They look like edibles to me too - does sweet peas ever have the rounder stems that garden peas, mangetout and sugar snaps have? 

    It’s a long time since I grew sweet peas because I prefer edibles now and I don’t want to get mixed up either. Also the pods of sweet peas are hairy compared to the pods of edibles?
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Does the pea flower have a strong scent?
  • jfwXLMFqfLxjfwXLMFqfLx Posts: 3
    Fire said:
    Does the pea flower have a strong scent?
    No scent at all. 
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I think they are edibles too and the only way to find out is to let them grow. Sweet pea seeds are much smaller than edibles and look altogether different. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,027
    They look like Mange tout or similar. I grow a white variety that looks exactly like that.
    Not sweet peas -the flowers don't grow like that on sweet peas, and the pods are different, as @Uff says.
    I wouldn't eat them though, just to be safe. Perhaps worth notifying the GC you got them from. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • alexryzawlskiqBU-X4OFalexryzawlskiqBU-X4OF Posts: 158
    The first 3 look like edible peas. Likely to be mangetout. The plant looks very similar to the pea variety I've been growing called norli. The last is definitely sweet pea. Both plants look very healthy by the way 😁
    Happy Gardening
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,267
    Three years ago our Italian visitor came in from the garden looking pleased with himself, telling us he had eaten some peas. As we only grew beans not peas we thought he had just muddled up the words. “Sei sicuro? Piselli o fagioli” No, he insisted he had eaten peas and it turned out the daft sod had eaten sweet pea seeds. I looked it up on Google. It can give a muscle weakness called, not surprisingly, lathyrus. “Anche,” I added, just for Beppe’s benefit, “stupidità”. 

    Next day he was, predictably, a little more stupid but otherwise fine.
    Rutland, England
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