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Sweet pea

Lathyrus odoratus

In a typical UK garden, sow indoors mid-January to mid-March, sow outside early March to mid-April, plant out late March to late April, and harvest early June to mid-September.

When to sow, plant and harvest

Last frost around 20 April, first frost around 31 October.

Sow indoors
mid-January to mid-Marchearly October to late November
Sow outdoors
early March to mid-April
Plant out
late March to late April
Harvest
early June to mid-September
Spacing
20 cm apart, rows 60 cm apart
Square foot
4 per square (30 cm squares)
Sowing depth
1.5 cm
Ready in
50 to 70 days from planting out
Grows to
1.8 m
Hardiness
Hardy to about -5 °C
Sun
Full sun
Crops for
About 10 weeks

Growing tip

Pinch out the tips at about 10 cm for bushier plants, and pick the flowers every few days, because once pods form, flowering stops.

Neighbours

Grows well with

Flowers are one crop rotation group. Try not to grow them where any of the family grew in the last two or three years. How crop rotation works

Guides

When to plant

Sow sweet peas in autumn for the earliest flowers

Sow sweet peas under cover from early October to late November for the strongest plants and the earliest flowers, or indoors from mid-January to mid-March. You can also sow outdoors from early March to mid-April, but they will flower later.

More flowers

Where these figures come from

Every crop in VegLog was checked against published growing advice. Dates are worked out from average frost dates, so they shift with your garden. For sweet pea, we used:

Grow sweet pea with VegLog

Add sweet pea to a bed and VegLog reminds you when to sow, plant out and pick, timed to your own town's frost dates.