This month we’ve been sending out Sweet pea seeds with our Monthly Subscription soy candles. We’ve had a mixture of Lady Chatsworth variety and Mammoth Mix, both are beautifully scented so that the fragrant element of your candle lives on.
Sweet peas come from Italy and Cyprus and they’re small but mighty things. They symbolise calm and positive experiences and we don’t think there’s anything more calming and satisfying than planting them up and watching them grow each day. They are known for being long lasting and making beautiful posies if you choose to cut them and have them in a vase.
You can plant sweet peas indoors in Autumn, Winter and March - April which makes them perfect our Spring candle subscription deliveries. They can then be planted out in the Summer.
Here’s 5 tips on how to grow your own…
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Soak the seeds.
Before planting the seeds pop them in some water for 24 hours to soak. They should swell up. Some people also make a little chip in the hard shell, so that the shoots and roots can break through more easily, but we think soaking should be enough in most cases.
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Time to plant the sweet pea seeds.
Pop some soil in a compostable pot (or other plastic alternative) leaving a space of 1inch/5cm at the top. Sprinkle your seeds. There are usually 5 or 6 sweet pea seeds in an envelope with our candles, so that there won’t be too many plants for your pot or holder. Cover over with more soil leaving a small gap at the top and water.
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Get ready to take them outside.
Sweet peas climb. So when they’ve started to grow and shoot and get bigger you can plant them in the garden (late April) or a larger pot outside.
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Make a climbing frame.
When you’re planting out your seedlings position them apart in your larger pot but near to canes and lean them in the direction of where the cane is, so that they can be trained to grow in that direction. We add a few bamboo canes to the pot in a wigwam shape, so that they start to climb up these. We separate the plants so they don’t all clump on one cane. Then they do the rest.
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Keep them looking good all summer, just add water.
Once the sweet peas have settled in, water them 3 to 4 days if in the ground or everyday/other day if they’re planted in a pot as they tend to dry out more quickly in a pot. To look after them you can take off any dead flowers by pinching them off, this triggers the plant into replacing the dead flowers which keeps the plant flowering on the whole for longer.
Sweet peas just last for a year, so collect the seeds they leave behind ready for planting the next season.
Have you tried planting up your holders yet?