Intro

Once again, I tuned into Margaret Roach’s “Way to Garden” podcast. She often releases follow-up episodes after publishing articles in The New York Times. That’s when I came across her episode on Sweet Peas.

I had never grown Sweet Peas before, primarily because I’m not usually interested in ornamental plants. Nowadays, however, I’m exploring new avenues, especially as Sweet Peas are known for their lovely fragrance. I thought it might be a pleasant idea to grow more flowers in my front yard. People often comment on our wildflowers during summer, expressing their love for them. With fragrant Sweet Peas in our garden, passers-by could enjoy a refreshing scent too, also most importantly, my wife Hena will love them.

Margaret’s podcast provides links to several specialty seed growers. One of them, Sweet Pea Gardens, caught my eye as they are a small family farm - and I admire small family farms.

In our garden, we prefer a color palette of blue and purple, which influenced my choice of the following seeds:

• Sweet Pea Three Times As Sweet
• Sweet Pea Turquoise Lagoon
• Sweet Pea Oyama Bicolor
• Sweet Pea Erewhon

Starting Sweet Peas

It’s known that Sweet Peas, like regular peas, can handle cold temperatures but still benefit from some indoor growth to get stronger. In regions with warmer winters, one could probably sow Sweet Peas directly outside. But in places like the Midwest, where winters are harsh and spring weather is unpredictable, it would make more sense to nurture seedlings indoors before transferring them outside.

I have learned that Sweet Peas need deeper pots because they don’t like their roots disturbed. Therefore, I ordered “SureRoots 50-Cell Deep Plug Flats – 5 Count” from Johnny’s seeds. It is a 5" deep cell tray used by the Johnny’s team for Sweet Peas and carrots - which is perfect for my needs. I opted for this over a product called “Rootrainers,” which seemed rather flimsy and overpriced.

Another consideration was where to grow the seedlings. I usually use my grow tent since it’s easier to maintain high humidity and warm temperatures. But seeing as Sweet Peas prefer cool temperatures, I decided to keep the grow trays in my sunroom, by the window. Since they’ll be in the sunroom with limited ventilation, I opted for store-bought potting soil over homemade compost to prevent any unpleasant smell.

While soaking Sweet Pea seeds overnight is a common discussion amongst gardeners, I decided against it after consulting with Sweet Pea Gardens. Their trials showed no marked improvement in germination.

Labeling

To identify each sweet pea variety with ease, I created color-coded labels. I used pencil and oil pastel on the labels to ensure the names and colors won’t fade when exposed to UV light and other outdoor elements. The seedlings should emerge within a week and remain in the cell tray for 4 to 6 weeks. As it’s early February 2024, I plan to transfer them outside by mid to late March.