Picking, deadheading and tying in sweet peas

Picking, Deadheading and Tying in Sweet Peas

It's the middle of June and the sweet peas are in full bloom. There are four things I always have with me when I am attending to my sweet peas, these are:

• a bucket of water to put the cut blooms in
• an empty bucket for stripping the foliage and removing deadheads
• snips
• rubber bands
• flexi tie.

The sweet peas I'm growing in this patch are:

Sweet pea 'Judith Wilkinson'

Sweet pea 'Matucana'

Sweet pea 'Emilia Fox'

Sweet pea 'King Edward VII'

Picking Sweet Peas

I pick sweet peas in three main ways:

• I cut a long trailing stem back to an axillary bud and take the whole stem in one go. This gives a great sense of movement in a vase
• another way I pick them is by bunching them together and then securing them with a rubber band. I would then put this bunch directly into a flower arrangement which would ensure that the flowers would have a big impact
• I also pick some individual stems for putting into small vases that might be dotted along a table or put in a bedroom.

The Generous Gardener Has the Most Flowers

If you are picking your sweet peas regularly, you shouldn't need to deadhead too much. But inevitably the odd few will go over and you will need to remove them. It is important to do this as soon as possible to ensure that they don't start to go to seed.

Once this has happened your plant will be putting more energy into producing seeds and less energy into producing new flowers.

As sweet peas are a trailing plant, you will have to follow all of the tendrils to ensure that no dead flowers have gone to seed.

As sweet peas flower so prolifically you will often find yourself cutting lots of flowers at the same time and practically clearing one of your teepees of blooms.

To Remove the Tendrils or Not?

If you're a perfectionist or are growing for a garden show then you may want to remove all of the tendrils from your sweet peas to ensure you grow straight stems.

Personally though, I love sweet pea tendrils in an arrangement and I think they add a really romantic energy to an arrangement.

How Often Should I Pick Sweet Peas?

Sweet peas are such prolific bloomers, that you really need to be picking them three times a week to make the maximum yield from them and ensure that none are going to seed.

If you do this, you should be able to continue harvesting your sweet peas from the middle of June until the middle of July. On average they have a flowering life of 6 to 8 weeks, after which they begin to look quite ropey and aren't worth picking.

Feeding and Watering the Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are very thirsty and hungry plants, which is why they never do as well in pots as they do in the soil.

My Regime for Looking After Sweet Peas:

• put compost or manure into your planting hole when planting out. If you don't put enough organic matter in the planting hole, they may get mildew
• water for two hours with a sprinkler once planted, then again for two hours 10 days later, and again for two hours 10 days after that. You shouldn't need to water them again
• if your plants are suffering from mildew feed them at the roots with comfrey tea, which should combat it.

Potash-Rich Comfrey Feed

Comfrey is rich in potash, which helps plants such as sweet peas and tomatoes with flower and fruit production. This makes comfrey an ideal choice when compared with a broad spectrum feed, as too much nitrogen would promote more leaf growth, which you don't want.

Tying in the Sweet Peas

Once you have picked all of your flowers, tie any vines and tendrils back into the frame. This will keep them secure and ensure they don't crowd the space of any nearby flowerbeds.