Hi

I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed. A friend told me to seed now and winter the plants outside. So, I bought seeds and sowed into a heated propagator in seed compost. That was a week ago, and as far as I can tell the seeds are just sitting there. My question is am I being impatient or is there a problem?

thank you for any advise.....Julie. Isle of Wight UK

juliepacker wrote in
s.com:

Hi

I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed. A friend told me to
seed now and winter the plants outside. So, I bought seeds and sowed
into a heated propagator in seed compost. That was a week ago, and as
far as I can tell the seeds are just sitting there. My question is am
I being impatient or is there a problem?

I don't think you need a heated propagator.

The idea is to bring them on slowly this autumn so that they get a head-
start in the spring. But if you keep them too warm I'd have thought they
would shoot away too fast and then run into problems later as the light
levels fall in the winter.

I've always been bad at growing sweet peas from autumn sowings, so maybe am
not the best person to advise, but I've been told by others here that the
problems I've had have been exactly that - keeping them too warm too early.

Planning to give them another go in my (unheated) greenhouse this autumn...

I can tell you that they will take a little while to germinate - only the
fastest seeds will appear inside a week! Give it a bit longer.

Alternatively, they are very easy to grow in the spring, and I reckon you
only lose a few week's growth, so sow more then if these don't work out.

Victoria

juliepacker wrote:
: Hi
:
: I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
: decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed. A friend told me to
: seed now and winter the plants outside. So, I bought seeds and sowed
: into a heated propagator in seed compost. That was a week ago, and as
: far as I can tell the seeds are just sitting there. My question is am
: I being impatient or is there a problem?
:
: thank you for any advise.....Julie. Isle of Wight UK

You mustn't use any heat. It's a bit early now especially where you are. I
would say wait until October at the earliest, sow them in pots and leave
them outside. They will take weeks to germinate and need only be taken in,
in the very hardest frosts or during high winds. The golden rule is that you
don't molly coddle sweet peas, they don't like it

Robert The Devil's Advocate www.pafc.co.uk

Victoria Clare wrote in message 8.218...
juliepacker wrote in
s.com:
[...]

Victoria's comments are sound. Another thing to consider is the
toughness of the sweet pea seed coating. You can speed germination
either by breaking the coat by rubbing each seed on some sandpaper or
by pouring hot water over the seeds in a small bowl. Or you could just
be patient!

Mike.

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 09:21:34 GMT, juliepacker
wrote:

Hi

I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed.

I always soak mine overnight in cold water and I never bother planting
them until Spring. I don't grow to exhibit and the results are good
enough for me. I think the idea behind Autumn sowing is to get a
really strong root system, hence the special "root trainers" they are
grown in. Too much of a fag!

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 09:21:34 GMT, juliepacker
wrote:

Hi

I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed.

I always soak mine overnight in cold water and I never bother planting
them until Spring. I don't grow to exhibit and the results are good
enough for me. I think the idea behind Autumn sowing is to get a
really strong root system, hence the special "root trainers" they are
grown in. Too much of a fag!

Pam in Bristol


Hmm "root trainers" - can you expand on this at all, please?

Having read this thread it had just given me an idea to try it this year
(hadn't heard of it before), but if special pots are necessary then they can
wait until spring!!!

Oh, are there any organic ways to beat the dreaded mildew?

many thanks
Richard

--
Richard Sampson

email me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 16:46:27 +0100, "RichardS" noaccess@invalid
wrote:

Hmm "root trainers" - can you expand on this at all, please?

First site I found is..........
http://www.rootrainers.co.uk/
but I'm sure garden centres and catalogues sell them. I've never used
them but I'm sure someone here has.

Pam in Bristol

Pam Moore wrote in
:

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 16:46:27 +0100, "RichardS" noaccess@invalid
wrote:

Hmm "root trainers" - can you expand on this at all, please?

First site I found is..........
http://www.rootrainers.co.uk/
but I'm sure garden centres and catalogues sell them. I've never used
them but I'm sure someone here has.

I haven't, but a popular alternative is the cardboard loo-roll centre.

They do tend to get a bit mouldy, and you have to be careful about keeping
them damp, but they work OK.

Victoria

RichardS wrote:
: "Pam Moore" wrote in message
: ...
:: On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 09:21:34 GMT, juliepacker
:: wrote:
::
::: Hi
:::
::: I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
::: decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed.
::
:: I always soak mine overnight in cold water and I never bother
:: planting them until Spring. I don't grow to exhibit and the results
:: are good enough for me. I think the idea behind Autumn sowing is to
:: get a
:: really strong root system, hence the special "root trainers" they are
:: grown in. Too much of a fag!
::
:: Pam in Bristol
:
:
: Hmm "root trainers" - can you expand on this at all, please?
:
: Having read this thread it had just given me an idea to try it this
: year (hadn't heard of it before), but if special pots are necessary
: then they can wait until spring!!!
:
: Oh, are there any organic ways to beat the dreaded mildew?
:
: many thanks
: Richard

The way I sow them is three to a decent size pot, say 9" and some longer
pots if you can get them. I don'[t grow for show so I just plant the
contents of the pots along the trellis and it works fine for me

Robert The Devil's Advocate www.pafc.co.uk

I also recall seeing AT on Gardeners World 2 or 3 years ago planting
sweet pea seeds direct into the soil around a wigwam of canes.
I cannot remember how successful that was.

Pam in Bristol

October is early enough here in Yorkshire. Probably too warm to germinate.

Trevor



"juliepacker" wrote in message
s.com...
Hi

I am a bit of a garden newbie, so could do with some advise. Have
decided to atempt to grow sweet peas from seed. A friend told me to
seed now and winter the plants outside. So, I bought seeds and sowed
into a heated propagator in seed compost. That was a week ago, and as
far as I can tell the seeds are just sitting there. My question is am
I being impatient or is there a problem?

thank you for any advise.....Julie. Isle of Wight UK
--
juliepacker
------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted via www.GardenBanter.co.uk



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in article , The Devil's Advocate at
wrote on 10/9/03 5:47 pm:

snip
The way I sow them is three to a decent size pot, say 9" and some longer
pots if you can get them. I don'[t grow for show so I just plant the
contents of the pots along the trellis and it works fine for me

Here, we soak them, then sow them 9 to a long tom, short canes in the pot
for onward sales, 3 plants to a cane.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove the 'x' to email me)

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 21:04:58 +0100, Pam Moore wrote:

I also recall seeing AT on Gardeners World 2 or 3 years ago planting
sweet pea seeds direct into the soil around a wigwam of canes.
I cannot remember how successful that was.

Pam in Bristol

That's what I did this year. Not in Autumn though, last May/June. It worked for me,
but I thought they were a bit slow to take off. That might just be my inexperience.
Once they did take off they went like billy-o and grew to at least the 6ft it said on
the packet.

Liz