Preparing sweet peas for winter

My Sweet Peas are 5" tall now so should I pinch out the tips?

also should they be watered regularly in my cold frame?

Should they be protected from the cold?
CJ.

 

Yes, pinch out either above 2nd or 2rd pair of leaves (I've forgotten which - sorry ... senior moment :( - there is a site called something like "Eagle Sweet Peas" that has (or used to have!) good growing information.). Even if you want to grow single-stem plants for showing or cut flowers I think you should do this - IME the side shoots that develop are far more vigorous than the "leader" that you remove, and then of those you can choose the strongest to grow on, in the Spring, if you just want to train a single stem; and if you want several steams, or a "bush", it will be far more vigorous than if you don't pinch it out.

As the weather gets colder they won't need much water. There will be very little evaporation with the colder weather, so be careful to moderate the watering to only give them what they need to drink, rather than what would also evaporate / transpire in warmer summer days ...

When I have grown Autumn sown I grew them in pots in a cold greenhouse, if yours are in a cold frame they should be just fine.

However, for what its worth, I've stopped sowing them this early. I could never find pots that were both narrow and very tall and I thought mine always became root bound, so I sow them very early in the New Year (January) instead.

 

Thanks, they are in John Innes no2 and look great. I hope they produce good blooms next year. Thanks for the advice.