The Winter Sowing of Sweet Peas

Winter Sowing

• Sweetpeas prefer to bloom while the weather is still cool in the spring. Hot weather slows blooming, so seeds started too late won't have time to put on their full show before the summer sun puts an end to it. When you sow your sweetpeas in the winter, they have time to germinate and grow. As soon as the soil can be worked, you can transplant the seedlings and within four to eight weeks, your sweetpeas will be blooming.

When to Sow

• For winter sowing, start your seeds in February if you live in a mild or temperate area. Sweetpea growers with long, freezing winters must wait until six weeks prior to their last average frost date. Regional gardening handbooks and local cooperative extensions will be able to provide you with this date.

How to Sow

• Sweetpea seeds have hard casings. To speed germination, either rub the seed a few times over a piece of sandpaper or soak the seeds in water overnight. Plant two or three seeds in each pot. It will cause the plants less stress if you plant the seeds in a biodegradable pot that can be placed directly in the ground when transplant time arrives. Keep the seeds moist and they will sprout within two weeks. Your seedlings can be moved to the garden as soon as you can work the soil.

Other Planting Times

• If you live in an area with cool summers, you can plant sweetpeas directly into the garden in early spring. Gardens in cool summer regions will have a continuous succession of blooms if you plant sweetpea seeds every three to four weeks. In areas that have mild winters with little or no freezing temperatures, gardeners can plant their sweetpeas directly in the ground in fall for blooms the following spring.