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Sweet Pea Strips

Kings Seeds are known worldwide for the quality of their sweet peas. Kings Seeds now offer ready grown Sweet peas in strips.

Each Strip contains approximately 20 plants.

On arrival, carefully unpack your Sweet pea Strips and water if required. Do not be alarmed if a little of the compost has fallen away from the strip, this occasionally happens but will not affect the overall performance of the plants. These can be planted straight away as long as the ground isn't frozen or waterlogged.

At Kings we offer Sweet peas for planting in the garden:- Spencer Waved Premium Mixed and Old Spice Mixed, along with Dwarf Cupid Mixed – ideal for planting in containers.

How to Grow

Sweet peas like a well prepared soil with plenty of organic matter added to it, as this will help retain the moisture they require to grow and flower well. Prior to planting add a dressing of Kings Sweet pea fertiliser, and lightly rake into the Soil.

If planting in the garden, Spencer Waved Premium Mixed or Old Spice Mixed will require some form of support to grow up against, this can be a trellis or a Pea & Bean net. These varieties will reach approximately 180cm tall by the end of the season.

We do not recommend dividing the plants up individually; we suggest that the strip of plants is split into small sections of 3-4 plants and planted altogether as one unit. Gently tease each small clump of plants apart and plant at their final planting position 30cm apart with as much compost intact as possible. Water in after planting and continue to water if the weather is very dry. Don’t be alarmed if plants after transplanting get a few yellow leaves near the base, this is quite normal and the plants will still grow ok after recovering from being transplanted. Two to three weeks after planting, once the plants have become established, pinch out the growing tip of each plant as this will encourage them to bush out and produce more flowers. When planting against a net, as the plants grow they can be gently spread out and encouraged to climb.

You can pinch out the tops of the plants when they have 3 pairs of true leaves, as this will encourage them to grow bushier.

Dwarf Sweet Pea Cupid Mixed can be split up in the same way and planted in baskets or containers in a good potting cost. Alternatively they can be planted towards the front of borders for some early summer colour.

Flowers

Once plants are established they will produce beautifully scented blooms ideal for cutting and bringing indoors. It is important to pick flower stalks regularly and not allow them to go to seed as this will stop the plants from flowering over a longer period. Occasionally plants can suffer from bud drop, where you get a stem with flowers as the buds have dropped off. This can be caused by changeable weather, cold nights, very wet weather and can also be caused by watering with cold water in the evenings. It is always advisable to water Sweet Peas when in flower, early in the morning as the day is getting warmer. After a short time the plants will settle back to normal and once again produce full stems of blooms.

Pest and Diseases

Occasionally Sweet Peas can get an attack from aphids, these can be controlled by spraying with a suitable insecticide or organic soft soap.

Sometimes blooms can get invaded by pollen beetles; these can be a nuisance if bringing blooms indoors. A handy tip is to cut the blooms, place in a vase and then overnight put in a garage or shed with the door left ajar. The beetles will fly towards the light as the day breaks, reducing the amount of beetles in the blooms.

Late in the season Sweet pea foliage can sometimes get the fungal disease Mildew. This will give the leaves a white appearance. Late on in the season it is not worth spraying with a fungicide and the blooms will not be affected.