My sweet peas, sown indoors about a week ago in individual pots, have
started to germinate. From what I can gather, they should now be put
outside in a cold frame with as much sunlight as possible, but I don't
have a cold frame, and the only bit of my garden that gets winter sun is
rather high up on a south facing wall.

My plan is to put them in transparent sandwich bags and hang them from a
shelf I have on that wall so that the plastic stays upright and doesn't
get flattened by wind or rain. This should give them 6" or so of growth
before I plant them out in March. I also have a serious snail problem
and hopefully they won't find their way into the bags.

Is this crazy or flawed in some way? I'm sure it is.

On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:49:27 +0000, stuart noble
wrote:

My sweet peas, sown indoors about a week ago in individual pots, have
started to germinate. From what I can gather, they should now be put
outside in a cold frame with as much sunlight as possible, but I don't
have a cold frame, and the only bit of my garden that gets winter sun is
rather high up on a south facing wall.

My plan is to put them in transparent sandwich bags and hang them from a
shelf I have on that wall so that the plastic stays upright and doesn't
get flattened by wind or rain. This should give them 6" or so of growth
before I plant them out in March. I also have a serious snail problem
and hopefully they won't find their way into the bags.

Is this crazy or flawed in some way? I'm sure it is.

Stuart, your idea of hanging the pots in bags is a good one. I have
done it before with cuttings.
A question: Did you chip or soak the seed before planting?
I'm a bit late this year and have some still to sow and always find
germination a bit eratic.

Pam in Bristol

My experience is that, although snails love the pea family in general, sweet peas, along with culinary peas and broad beans, are relatively unattractive to them.

On 11/02/2011 16:54, Pam Moore wrote:
On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:49:27 +0000, stuart noble
wrote:

My sweet peas, sown indoors about a week ago in individual pots, have
started to germinate. From what I can gather, they should now be put
outside in a cold frame with as much sunlight as possible, but I don't
have a cold frame, and the only bit of my garden that gets winter sun is
rather high up on a south facing wall.

My plan is to put them in transparent sandwich bags and hang them from a
shelf I have on that wall so that the plastic stays upright and doesn't
get flattened by wind or rain. This should give them 6" or so of growth
before I plant them out in March. I also have a serious snail problem
and hopefully they won't find their way into the bags.

Is this crazy or flawed in some way? I'm sure it is.

Stuart, your idea of hanging the pots in bags is a good one. I have
done it before with cuttings.

Excellent. I'm relieved to hear that. I just hope they don't blow around
too much, but I think they'll be heavy enough when they're wet.

A question: Did you chip or soak the seed before planting?
I'm a bit late this year and have some still to sow and always find
germination a bit eratic.

I soaked them for about 12 hours and sowed them 1/2" deep in compost
that I had soaked and allowed to drain the previous day. With mixed
colours the smaller seeds always seem to take longer, but 12 out of 30
is a good start.

Pam in Bristol

On 11/02/2011 16:56, kay wrote:
stuart noble;912627 Wrote:
My sweet peas, sown indoors about a week ago in individual pots, have
started to germinate. From what I can gather, they should now be put
outside in a cold frame with as much sunlight as possible, but I don't
have a cold frame, and the only bit of my garden that gets winter sun is

rather high up on a south facing wall.

My plan is to put them in transparent sandwich bags and hang them from a

shelf I have on that wall so that the plastic stays upright and doesn't

get flattened by wind or rain. This should give them 6" or so of growth

before I plant them out in March. I also have a serious snail problem
and hopefully they won't find their way into the bags.

Is this crazy or flawed in some way? I'm sure it is.

My experience is that, although snails love the pea family in general,
sweet peas, along with culinary peas and broad beans, are relatively
unattractive to them.





Well, last year something took a nip right at the base and left them
lying in a heap. I just don't trust them :-)

That sounds like slugs!
Maybe I've just got too many other things that they like even more ;-)

Actually, I don't plant out sweet peas till they're about a foot high, which might explain my lack of damage. But I find runner beans need to be 6ft high to avoid snails felling them.