How to Plant and Grow Sweet Pea Flowers

Sweet peas are a beautiful and fragrant flower that is perfect for adding a pop of color to your landscaping or used to draw in pollinators to your garden.

Sweet peas make a great cut flower for bouquets and can fill in a large back wall or fence fairly easily for a decorative touch.

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Choose a variety of sweet peas that will accent the area you are growing them. With a large variety of colors, you have plenty of options to find the right shade to make your front porch or entertainment space really pop in the summer.

Sweet peas love the heat and will grow well in warm, humid climates while still being able to thrive in a cooler climate.

Planting Sweet Peas

Sweet peas grow fast and need plenty of support. For the best results, place your trellises at the time of planting. These plants will need to be tied to their trellises.

Plant your sweet peats 8 inches apart to give their root systems room to spread. The vines will quickly fill in the gaps as they climb the trellises.

After your plants have created several sets of true leaves, pinch out the center stem to encourage your plant to bush out at the base for larger, fuller sweet pea plants.

Caring For Sweet Peas

Soil

Sweet peas are moderate feeders and should be planted with soil that has had plenty of fresh compost tilled in to ensure that there is enough nutrition to help them thrive.

Soil should be well-draining, not clay-heavy, and mixed with plenty of organic matter like old fall leaves or aged wood chips to aid in drainage while holding moisture that is needed at the same time. Add a thick layer of mulch around your sweet peas to prevent weeds and help trap moisture in the soil.

Fertilizing

Fertilize your sweet peas weekly to help encourage their average growth of 1 foot per week. Compost tea, fish emulsion, or a strong organic liquid fertilizer are best for fertilizing your sweet peas to help them grow and thrive.

Watering

Sweet peas need plenty of water to thrive. To ensure your sweet peas do well, use a water timing system on soaker hoses to ensure that they get enough water and are not left without the water they need, particularly when a drought hits. This can be vital if you want your sweet peas to reach their full potential.

How to Start Sweet Peas from Seed

When starting sweet peas from seed, you need to soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting. This helps them soften the seed coat and increases the germination rate of your seeds.

After soaking, you can start your seeds in larger seed starting containers that are at least 4 inches deep, allowing for plenty of room for the roots to grow.

Use a quality, well-draining potting mix for starting your seeds indoors 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost. For a warmer climate, you can start your seeds outdoors directly in the soil in the fall after soaking.

How to Grow Sweet Peas in Containers

Sweet peas can thrive in a container provided it is given enough space and support. large 10 to 12-inch pots will work well for sweet peas and should be hung or placed with a large trellis to give them room to climb and the support needed to keep the vines strong.

Use a pot that has adequate draining and keep your potted sweet peas well watered with daily watering. If you tend to forget to water your potted plants, you can use watering globes and mulch or a self-watering pot to help keep your potted sweet peas from drying out and stunting their growth.

How to Grow Sweet Peas in Hanging Baskets

If you want a plant that will flower and hand on large bunches, sweet peas make a great hanging basket plant.

Sweet peas need plenty of water. Often hanging plants are neglected. Set an alarm or use a misting system on a timer to ensure that your sweet peas get plenty of water to encourage their full potential in your hanging pots.

Sweet peas need to get plenty of sun but can look amazing on a south-facing porch or patio.

How to Grow Sweet Peas Indoors

Many people love bright and cheerful house plants. Hanging pots of sweet peas can make a colorful addition to your house plants.

When growing sweet peas indoors, the important thing to remember is that they need plenty of sunlight to grow. This can be achieved by placing them in direct light in a southern facing window or using an LED grow light to help provide them with the needed light to grow.

Full-spectrum LED grow bulbs are available in bright white and can be blended in with your usual lighting to help provide lights for indoor plants. Sweet pea can thrive in the humid environment of a bathroom or kitchen.

Sweet Peas: Quick Care Guide

Common Name	Sweet Peas
Botanical Name	Lathyrus odoratus
Flower Colors	White, yellow, purple, violet, lavender, blue, pink, red
Light	Full sun to part shade
Water:	Sweet peas need plenty of water
Soil	Rich, organic, and well-draining
Fertilizer	Fertilize weekly with compost tea, fish emulsion, or organic liquid fertilizer

Recommended Varieties

Our favorite, beautiful, and highly scented sweet pea varieties to grow in your garden:

‘Linda Carole’
‘Almost Black’
‘Hi Scent’
‘White Frills’
‘Beaujolais’

Growing sweet peas is not only easy but also a great way to enjoy the beauty of nature. And if you really want an explosion of colors, plant more than one variety!