Sweet peas

SNORBEAST

Was wondering could anyone give me some advice please, planted sweet pea seeds straight into pots outside about 2 weeks ago, and there is not the slightest sign of any shoots coming up, was wondering did I plant them out too early. Thanks

redser7

Maybe. Have a furtle in the compost and see if any have sprouted.
Probably the best way to grow peas and beans is to pre-chit them. So pop your peas or beans in a glass of tepid water for a few hours. Then put some tissue paper on a saucer, wet it, put the peas/beans on top. Cover over the saucer with some cling film. Check them daily and as soon as you see a root sprout (in a few days), plant them in compost. When the shoots come through and are about 3 or 4 inches high plant them in their final places. Usually 100% reliable, no wasted time waiting to see if they rotted in the ground Mice cant get the seeds and they will be big enough to survive slug attacks. Still plenty of time to do this I would say.

redser7

btw - to do it your way, you would have been best off leaving the pots indoors. Once they popped above the surface you could put them outside.

SNORBEAST

redser7 wrote: »

btw - to do it your way, you would have been best off leaving the pots indoors. Once they popped above the surface you could put them outside.

Thanks, I was thinking that all right, the method of planting them outside worked well for me last year.

redser7

Such a long cold spring this year, everything is a month behind

SNORBEAST

redser7 wrote: »

Such a long cold spring this year, everything is a month behind

Do you think that they could sprout yet?

redser7

They might if they havn't rotted. So just have a gentle poke around and see if any chitted, you can always poke them back in.

Oldtree

planting seeds like sweet pea outside can attract mice. They love the little round seeds. having encountered this in the pollytunnel this is what i came up with.

A large tray full of water.
smaller tray upside down therein creating a kind of moat.
Another tray (slightly larger than the inverted tray to allow a small hangover) on top of the inverted tray to allow watering of pots.
Into that tray went the pots with seeds.

Seems to work fine, mice couldnt swin and climb the overhang.

also dont let seeded pots sit in water, allow them to soak up what they need only to prevent rot.

donalh087

redser7 wrote: »

Maybe. Have a furtle in the compost

Brilliant word. Had to google it, very onomatopoeic.