Higgledy Garden
  • About Higgledy Garden
  • The Higgledy Garden Shop
  • Ben’s Blog
  • Growing Guides
  • Seed Sowing Guide
  •  
0
Your cart is empty. Go to Shop.

Autumn sowing of sweet peas.

Sowing sweet peas in Autumn.

Flash runs a tight ship.

Dear Reader,

The Higgledy clan have been sowing sweet peas since before the invention of Homo heidelbergensis or at least that is what Nanna Betty Higgledy used to tell me on Halloween when she would sow her ‘Cupani’ seeds. Betty would start sowing on the stroke of midnight after half a bottle of Oban and with the Jonny Cash album, ‘Orange Blossom Special’ blasting out of the music center. She used to call me over to help, “oi you…specky wotsyerface…come over here and sow some of these buggers!” We sat up late in the cottage and sowed peas for ourselves and for our neighbours. This, of course, was before Grandpa Higgledy accidentally blew up the cottage when he invented the world-famous Higgledy exploding chrysanthemum which is still in use today by MI6 and MOSSAD.

Sweet pea bundle offer.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sowing in autumn?

Sweet Peas in a capers jar…classy…. ‘Painted Lady’

*Autumn sown sweet peas will develop a strong root system over the winter which will be ready to rocket forth when you plant them out in the spring. At this point they will be considerably easier to look after than seeds sown in the spring.

*Autumn sown seeds will produce bigger and earlier plants.

*The disadvantage is that you have to ensure that the seedlings are kept in moist compost over the winter.

Nanny Betty’s tips for an autumn sowing of sweet peas.

*First finagle yourself some sweet peas of the highest quality. Soak them overnight if you wish but we don’t find this necessary.

*Mice can smell Higgledy sweet pea seeds from 14.6 miles away and will swim raging rivers to get one of them in their micey mouths. For this reason, we don’t sow ours outside. Instead, we sow into pots where we can protect them from these furry beasties. Deep and narrow pots are best but standard pots will suffice.

Sweet Peas enjoying the view from the boat roof. These were planted into builder’s buckets. (Spring sown)

*Sow into good quality compost. Betty would poke a hole up to the first knuckle on her pointy finger…about 2cm in modern parlance.

*If the weather is really cold, say your sowing in late November or even December, then your seeds will need a little heat to get started. I start mine off in the boat cabin and then put them out on the roof in a cold-frame as soon as the green growth arrives. Don’t let your seedlings grow big in the warmth as this makes them soft and unprepared for the rigours of the outside world.

Your seedlings will look like this after three weeks….as long as the mice haven’t got involved with things.

*Betty would protect the seeds from mice with a sheet of glass or a wire rack. On my boat, I don’t have that problem but I use a transparent storage box with a fitted lid. This keeps out all pests and if we get a very sharp frost I can simply lift the box into the boat for the night. Once the seedlings have emerged the mice don’t bother with them and will get back to eating grain or beans on toast or whatever it is that they are fond of.

*On the whole, sweet peas are very tough so you don’t need to worry too much but don’t let the pots keep freezing solid as this will make them miffed. If they are in a reasonably sheltered spot this won’t be a problem.

*Nanny Betty fancied herself as a bit of a Druid and with this in mind would plant out her seedlings on the spring equinox, which is round about March 23rd. Naturally, this involved another disc on the music center, another bottle of grog, and Grandpa Higgledy throwing about some of his flower-based fireworks into the Shropshire sky. We will discuss planting up our sweet peas when the time comes. For now, we need just concern ourselves with sowing.

Can of peas! (I should be on the telly) ‘Winston Churchill’.

Which sweet peas to sow in autumn.

Chose any sweet peas you like. Presently I favour the old school ones like Painted Lady and Cupani. At Higgledy we stock a modest range. This is so we can stock the best of the best. Our range will give you all the scent and colour that you could possibly wish for.

We have an offer of 7 packets with 20% off. :)

If you have any questions you should like to ask either of us, then please find us pottering about on Facebook or Twitter. We are also on Instagram…but this year that seems mainly to be taken up by photographs of Flash and the boat. ;)

Our chum Georgie Newbery has a great Youtube site dedicated to growing flowers. She is about to post a video on growing sweet peas. I strongly suggest looking at her films…loads of fun and very informative.

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
A visit to Ellesmere Eco-flowers. HG is raising funds for the UNICEF humanitarian fund for Ukraine.

Fresh posts!

  • 9 1/2 reasons to sow biennials in summer for your cutting garden.
  • How to direct sow (into the soil) a cutting patch of annual flowers.
  • Growing Cosmos from seed. March/April/May.
  • Sowing up a flower field in Suffolk.
  • Guide to sowing/growing the Higgledy Birthday Bundle.

Sign up for the newsletter!

Once every two months, I send subscribers a discount code or an offer for a heavily discounted bundle of seeds. You won't get inundated with emails... I'm far too lazy for that sort of caper.

Possibly old and musty

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
© Higgledy Garden 2020
site by santa ana limited
Privacy Policy

Join Us

Once every two months, I send subscribers a discount code or an offer for a heavily discounted bundle of seeds. You won't get inundated with emails... I'm far too lazy for that sort of caper.

Join the chat on social media

Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter