[Lupin lurcher]

Hi I sowed my sweet peas 2 weeks ago today.  I soaked them overnight in warm water then planted 3 seeds in a three inch pot, I used a seed and potting compost lightly covered with vermiculite.  I have them in one of those plastic covered 5 tiered greenhouses. I am a bit worried because there is no sign of life there whatsover, the other seeds I sowed on the same day are all doing fine.  Can anyone please tell me where I have gone wrong and if I should buy some new ones and start again.  Mandy.

[Slowgrind]

Got my seeds planted a week ago, no signs yet. It is still quite cold but  getting warmer.
I'm sure that the shoots will appear soon!

[madcat]

I'll go with that - mine took 2 weeks in the utility room.  A green house outside would be getting pretty cold some of these clear nights.  Have you got somewhere you could keep them a bit warmer until they show?

[rhythmvick]

Quick related question - haven't grown sweet peas before and was going to sow in my modules in my kitchen this weekend. Do you always have to soak pea/sweet pea seeds? And why?

[Lupin lurcher]

Not really, the spare room is full of potatoes chitting, windowsills full of tomatoes, chillies marigolds.  I could bring them in at night and put them on the kitchen worktop?  rhythmvick I think you soak them to soften the shell, it says it gives them a head start, in my case not.

[madcat]

I think it is a case of if you remember then good, if not, oh well!  I didn't soak mine - because I hadn't read that bit of the board until after I had planted them!     They are doing fine .... 

Not really, the spare room is full of potatoes chitting, windowsills full of tomatoes, chillies marigolds.  I could bring them in at night and put them on the kitchen worktop? 

Sounds like your house and mine have a lot in common!      It might be a good idea on the nights when there is going to be a frost.

[rhythmvick]

All good advice, thanks guys! So exciting to be planting all these seeds - went home for lunch and three basil shoots had wooshed up since this morning  This is only my second year so I'm a newbie to this and it's sooooo addictive 

@madcat - love your tagline!! 

[Lupin lurcher]

Thanks madcat I will do that.  I will be glad when summer is here and I can get back to some normality 

[Trillium]

I'm sure sweetpeas were invented as a test of patience as mine seem to take forever as well. But when things are as they like them, up they come like little rockets. I plant mine and forget them until they need to be guided into their netting.

[madcat]

Trillium - forgive me for being nosy and I suspect I'm being thick, but in your strapline.....  what is a Chia jacket?

[Trillium]

It's a running joke from the chia seed line, and I've almost had the jacket happen when I forgot some seeds in my pocket. 

3_zwx6OXjMc

[Kristen]

Quick related question - haven't grown sweet peas before and was going to sow in my modules in my kitchen this weekend. Do you always have to soak pea/sweet pea seeds? And why?

Sweet peas have a hard coat, so I suppose they struggle to absorb water, start germinating and then break through the coat. But they must manage in the wild ...

I've seen advice to cut the coat with a knife, or using a nail-file / sand-paper. I've tried that, you'll need much more dexterous fingers than I've got to succeed!

I chit mine in ramekins lined with kitchen paper (kept "very nearly wet") until a root appears, then pop each one into a tall, slim, pot (usually a Rich'y Paper Pot).

[madcat]

It's a running joke from the chia seed line, and I've almost had the jacket happen when I forgot some seeds in my pocket. 

3_zwx6OXjMc

Ahhh  ......  can see how that would happen!      OH has a habit of leaving radish seeds in his overalls when they go in the washer.   

[Stree]

Hello again, its been a while.............
Well last year I had sweetpeas blooming by 1st May, from a September 1st sowing.......
For various reasons never got round to an autumn sowing last year and planted 5 different types  in loo roll tubes about 2 weeks ago.... My greenhouse is not glazed yet, but the staging is built, so thats where they ended up. Draped some polythene sheet over the greenhouse frame to keep the wind off. This morning counted 15 seedlings.... none were chitted scraped sandpapered, soaked or any way assisted. Just pushed into moist compost.
The  types I have are  Mammoth mixed, Incense mixed, high scent  and Kneehigh mix for containers. all from sweetpea specialists online, and the usual pound shop mix.
All chosen for maximum scent along with very different size and colour ranges..
Bit of experimenting on siting and soils this year.....
Some will go straight into a poor border soil, nothing done to it except top few inches dug over. riddled with tree and shrub roots all near the surface and at the other end of the scale a plot that  has previously grown runner beans, been double double dug, ferociously weeded, had a barrow of well rotted pigmuck dug in, copious amounts of goose and hen muck and soiled straw bedding dug in, and rotvated.. all before winter ... I reckon I could get housebricks to sprout  on that soil.......
The kneehigh mix will go in another border with decent well dug soil, and containers and maybe window boxes...
By the way, when I sowed the sweetpeas  as described above I also sowed cauliflower carrot onion lettuce and some Gallardia and all of these sprouted well before the sweetpeas. Basically just in seedtrays sat  on a bench outside...
Mentioning the greenhouse above, I will update the thread on it soon in the construction bit. Just the timberwork to finish on the roof and then glazing..........Using Acrylic..........about £700:00  worth of it.....Bit more than  I thought !

[Lupin lurcher]

Thanks everyone for your advice and encouragement.  I think I will keep fingers crossed for the ones I have already got and be patient.  I do need some more I think I will give Kristens way a go. Stree your soil sounds the bizz, good luck with the rest of your greenhouse.  I hope you don`t mind but can you post the name of the sweet pea specialist website for me. Many thanks to everyone. Mandy.