The weather is finally starting to warm up here in the Northeast and all of us at my farm are looking forward to gardening season.
My outdoor grounds crew has been very productive - dethatching the lawns, mulching the garden beds, and now planting our first flower seeds in the garden - sweet peas. The sweet pea, Lathyrus odoratus, is a garden classic - producing beautiful blooms with the most amazing scent. Sweet pea seeds can be sown into small pots of compost in autumn and overwintered indoors, or planted directly into the ground come spring. Last week, Ryan planted several sweet pea varieties from Johnny's Selected Seeds along a trellis in the vegetable garden - this will give us lots of fragrant color this summer. I am so excited to see how they grow.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
This year, we planted the sweet peas along this trellis located on one side of my vegetable garden. This trellis is similar to all the others made here at the farm – with materials we already have on hand.
My garden is filled with rich, nutrient-rich soil, so planting here is easy. The entire area was also recently tilled with our trusted Troy-Bilt Pony Rear-Tine Tiller.
Each of the upright posts for our trellis has a natural “V” shaped notch at one end. This serves as a support for the top cross branch. Each of the branches has about a two to four-inch radius.
We also used bamboo to support the trellis in between the branch posts.
Two diagonal branches measuring about 10-feet tall, with two-feet underground, were used to create the necessary slant of the trellis and then secured with wire.
The holes of this netting are wide enough to accommodate the growing plants, but small enough so they don’t fall through.
Using the hoe, Ryan dug a shallow trench – just a couple inches deep. Sweet peas are happiest in the sun with their roots in cool, moist soil.
Ryan drops the seeds into the furrow about an inch or two apart.
Look closely and you can see each of the seeds.
These seeds were soaked in water the night before. Soaking rehydrates the seeds and softens the hard seed coat.
Among the varieties we planted was this Spencer Ripple Formula Mix. These flowers have uniquely ruffled, bicolor petals. Displayed alone or mixed with solid color varieties in bouquets, they are simply gorgeous and one of the most fragrant sweet pea varieties. (Photo provided by Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Here is another container of sweet peas soaked, drained and ready to be planted.
This is called Johnny’s Elegance Formula Mix. This variety was developed for flowering under short days, low light conditions, and in cool greenhouses. This mix produces long stems of three to five blooms in seven shades of red, four shades of pink, two shades of purple, as well as blue and white. (Photo provided by Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Ryan places a wooden marker to identify what seeds were planted in what location.
Another variety we planted was Royal Mix – these flowers have exceptional fragrance and are very attractive to hummingbirds. The mix provides large, two-inch blossoms in bright, clear colors of red, purple, mauve, pink, blue, and white. (Photo provided by Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
We also planted a new variety called Nimbus, a unique color of gray-white petals with inky, blue-black streaks throughout and lining the petal edge. These plants produce showy, abundant, bicolor blooms on nine to 12-inch stems. (Photo provided by Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
Once all the seeds are in the ground, Ryan covers them with an inch-and-a-half of soil.
Ryan then creates a shallow trench on the other side of the trellis as well.
And instead of planting seeds, he plants these seedlings, which were started from seed in the greenhouse.
Sweet pea plants are annual climbers and need support to thrive. Most will grow to five or six feet tall.
Ryan gently plants each one against the netting. Peas use tendrils to climb. They can grasp anything that’s a quarter-inch or less. It’s important to get them blooming early, before the summer heat knocks them out.
Ryan plants the vines about six-inches apart. These should be planted in a sunny location, ideally with some protection from intense, afternoon sun.
Ryan planted the entire length of the trellis with these seedlings. All our sweet peas will bloom so beautifully here this year.