Each pot has 6 bamboo canes for the plants to grow up, secured at the top with these:
I'm not sure whether the peas will be able to grip the canes. I may have to give them some help with bits of soft string.
At present the pots are right next to the sliding door from our Living Room, but later on, when there is space to do so I plan to move them to the patio, where they will get more sun.
My plan is to pinch out the tips of the plants when they reach the tops of the canes, so that they become really bushy and hopefully produce lots of flower-stems. That's a few weeks away though.
As you can see, the little "Tete a Tete" daffodils are over now, though the "Soleils d'Or" have a few more days still. I have arranged the pots of Daffs as a sort of screen around the Sweet Peas, to hide them a bit from the marauding foxes who are bound to want to snuffle around in the fresh compost in the hope of finding some worms.
Your foxes always sound as bad as our skunks. They love to rototill the yard looking for worms. Though I can't totally hate them as they dug up and destroyed the wasp nest year the driveway last year.
ReplyDeleteI wish sweet peas didn't give me hayfever. They are amongst the prettiest flowers with the sweetest of scents . . . and the most debilitating pollen!
ReplyDeleteActually they are self-pollinating and the pollen is contained within the keel. It must be the power of suggestion because they are flowers; or they are carrying another pollen on their petals!
DeleteI'm still wondering whether to grow my sweet peas in the garden or on the allotment this year. I'll probably go with the allotment, they'll attract some pollinators to the plot.
ReplyDeleteI would not wait that long to pinch them out; when they have two sets of leaves is the best time to stop them. You can pinch them now.
ReplyDeleteAs described in a previous post, I have already pinched-out the Sweet Peas at the 3 or 4 leaf stage, and each plant now has at least 2 stems, but I mean that I will pinch them out again when they reach the tops of the canes.
DeleteI usually end up with a big tangled mess of sweet pea when I grow it but I think I will try again this year - I better get sowing!
ReplyDeleteI love sweet peas, Mark, for flower arrangements for the house. I don't know if they grow in Florida, as I haven't seen them here and only remember them from Kentucky where it was much cooler. I am growing English peas in my trough garden, though and they are up about like your sweet peas and I was pleased to see how you are planning to support the sweet peas with canes. I bought some, too, as they were extremely reasonably price and I think I will make a little fence with them and string for my few pea plants. Hopefully they will work. I don't have the plastic topper you have. Anxious to see how your grow.
ReplyDeleteI answer to your pondering - no they won't grip the canes they need something finer and manage our twiggy hazels - have the string ready. We haven;t sown ours yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue. The voice of experience talking...
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