{"id":3234,"date":"2015-04-22T08:56:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T07:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/?p=3234"},"modified":"2019-10-20T15:14:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T14:14:18","slug":"how-to-grow-fragrant-sweet-peas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/how-to-grow-fragrant-sweet-peas\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Grow Fragrant Sweet Peas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3235\" style=\"margin-left: 0px;margin-right: 20px;border: black 0px solid\" title=\"SweetPea\" src=\"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/SweetPea.jpg\" alt=\"SweetPea\" width=\"235\" height=\"235\"\/>Sweet Peas are one of the most popular plants for UK gardeners. They are annuals so only last the one summer but the display they give is always amazing; lots and lots of colourful, usually fragrant, flowers growing on bright green stems up to 6-7ft in height. Wonderful!<\/p>\n<p>As an added bonus they are very easy to grow; you can sow the seed directly into the ground or bring them on in the greenhouse or you can buy small plants from your local garden centre.<\/p>\n<p>Before sowing, either indoors or outdoors, soak the seed overnight in warm water.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sowing where they are to Flower<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose a sunny, sheltered site and incorporate some well-rotted manure to enrich the soil, particularly if you have sandy soil. If you have heavy soil add some grit to help with drainage.<\/li>\n<li>Wait until all risk of frost has passed, usually March or April, then just pop the seed in the ground about 2.5cm deep.<\/li>\n<li>Give them some support and a good watering and you should have flowers by July.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bringing on in Pots<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seed can be sown either from late September to November or during January or February.<\/li>\n<li>Choose deep pots, root trainers or toilet roll tubes to give a long root run.<\/li>\n<li>For best results use named varieties or cultivars and a good quality, free draining, potting compost.<\/li>\n<li>Sow three seeds to a 7.5cm (3ins) pot, 1cm deep.<\/li>\n<li>Place the pots in a cold frame or greenhouse at around 20-25C (68-77F) until after germination which should take 10-20 days.<\/li>\n<li>Pinch out the growing tip when about 8cm tall to produce bushier plants.<\/li>\n<li>Harden off gradually before planting in their final position.<\/li>\n<li>Plant in a rich, free draining soil in a sunny position.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Looking after the Plants<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Keep them well watered during dry spells.<\/li>\n<li>Apply well-rotted manure occasionally throughout the season.<\/li>\n<li>Slugs, snails and mice love sweet pea seedlings so take the necessary precautions.<\/li>\n<li>Pick the flowers or deadhead regularly throughout the summer to ensure plenty of flowers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are interested in growing Sweet Peas and would like to know more why not join the<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetpeas.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Sweet Pea Society<\/a><\/strong>. Their six-monthly Bulletins often contain articles relating to Sweet Pea plant diseases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sweet Peas are one of the most popular plants for UK gardens. They are annuals so only last the one summer but the display they give is always amazing; lots and lots of colourful, usually fragrant, flowers growing on bright green stems up to 6-7ft in height. Wonderful! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1637],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-flowers-and-plants","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3234"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15607,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234\/revisions\/15607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardeningregisterblog.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}