[snow white]

How high a support for sweet peas please. What is the lowest I can get away with as it is a windy site, and how strong a support (are they heavy when full grown?).  Thank you.

[devonbarmygardener]

I use 6 ft canes and as you would for climbing beans make like a long beanpole thing (words aren't working today ) I use a bitty rough string and loop around the poles altogether to help the sweet peas climb. Probably need a picture...

You can just about see it along the back fence of my garden

[Stree]

I use 8 foot canes, about 1 foot at least in the soil though.
I use fruit netting for supports, the stuff that has about a 5" mesh .
As for the weight, it is negligible, the strength of support is needed because of the wind and the effect of the foliage acting as a sail.
I am trying a new method this year. 22mm copper pipe ( standard plumbing size) about 15" long, hammered flat at one end so it has an easier path when it is hammered into the ground, leave about 5" showing above the soil, slot a cane into it and its a remarkably stable single cane . I choose canes that are a very tight fit in the pipe.
I have one row that is just two canes put in like this with 4 more canes tied across horizontally and it is very stable and needs no "guy rope" canes to keep it upright.
Plus, I suppose no slugs will climb up the copper pipes.............

[Sweetpea C]

Have you a sunny wall to grow them up? They love a bit of trellis or like Devon BG did and put the support next to a wall - this will protect them from the wind. If not though they grow up anything - in fact my best crop last year was some self planted that grew up the trunk of a tree!!! I did nothing and they were beautiful!

[snow white]

Like the copper pipe idea. How long a row are you making?

[Stree]

This one is only about 5 feet wide but its made to fit a space . No reason not to go wider, although 8 foot and longer might need an intermediate post to stop sagging.

[devonbarmygardener]

Last year I didn't have as much room in the beds as I do this year - had a bit of a clear out this Winter.

So I put 2 bamboo canes together to make the triangle and did this with canes of different sizes and lined them all up behind each other - lowest at the front, highest at the back with a couple of poles tied through the top to hold them together - like a traditional bean frame.

I could then squeeze my sweetpeas into a tight corner of the garden and they flourished and looked really different.

I didn't take a piccy though!

[Annen]

I saw them growing all over some one's plot just on the ground, they looked quite pretty, so I suppose you don't have to have a frame.

[devonbarmygardener]

They might look a bit untidy - I've never been a tidy person, but I couldn't cope with that!

My garden is always tidier than my house

[GrannieAnnie]

One year, I grew mine along my old picket fence.  The sweet peas loved it, they were still flowering in early December!

[sunshineband]

Grew some up the chicken wire fence at the front of my plot last year and they flowered away for months, smelling gorgeous too 

[Sweetpea C]

Grew some up the chicken wire fence at the front of my plot last year and they flowered away for months, smelling gorgeous too 

Oooh that's a good idea, I have a bit of leftover chicken wire at the plot, I'll use that - thanks