Whe do you plant Sweet peaSweet pea (South West of England)?

I remember Monty Don saying the one or other year that Sweet pea are much tougher than we think and they can be planted mid March. In last weeks episode, he said the opposite "when we plant later on the sweet peas" (sounded like May to me).
My ones are about 12 to 15 cm (6 inches) high and I wonder if they can go out.
I'm in the NE of Wiltshire just shy under the Cotswolds.
Thanks in advance for any input.

 

I don't sow mine until latter half of March, and they go out in May. They are much tougher than most people realise, but unless the plants are sturdy, with good root systems, they don't thrive in colder areas. It's why I rarely sow in autumn - the spring sown ones catch up. We can get very unpleasant weather in April, and it just makes them more attractive to predators, ie slugs. Wet cold is always worse than dry cold too, and the ground is colder than the air temp.

Where you are always dictates when you plant anything out. If they're bushy, and you've been pinching them out, you could probably plant them out soon, but it probabbly pays you to experiment. Try some now, and some later to see what works best.

 

I’m much further North than you and mine will be going out as soon as it stops raining.

 

Many thanks, @fairygirl and @Punkdoc
I just come back from the greenhouse, they are about 20cm high and the roots are visible. It will not stop raining in the next 2 weeks here and I was thinking about giving it a try.

 

Most of mine go in pots. If I plant in the ground, even healthy ones can get eaten overnight, so I have to be careful where I put them.

 

I'm a little south of you, @simone_in_wiltshire. When I've grown sweet peas, I've started them off in Feb, put them out under cover in March and planted them out in April. The weather has never been a problem, but pigeons, slugs and squirrels are hazards till they are about 18" tall.

 

I have just planted them @ViewAhead. I checked the weather forecast and there is no frost to expect.
I also sowed my sweet peas in February for the first time and they are better than in previous years when I did it in January.

 

I have been planting mine later, maybe that is why they haven't been so good. I do some in troughs and some straight in the soil but they too get eaten.

 

It is a shame they are so delicious as they are hardy little things and wouldn't need a huge amount of attention if it weren't for endlessly fending off diners!

 

I sow in succession and plant a few at a time. I'm not so worried about the cold but completely agree with @fairygirl about slugs. I let the roots tell me when they need to be in the ground. If you can time it so they are just filling the pots but not becoming to dense, then they don't suffer from that transplant shock where they get knocked back for a few weeks. As with other plants when they are sulking a bit after transplant is seems to attract the slugs and snails but if they continue to romp away with growth, they are normally ok.

 

I may have waited a bit too long, the roots were already hitting the bottom. I hope they make it.

 

I'm sure they will be fine, the roots at the bottom are always more vigorous. I think the perfect stage is when they just about hold the compost together when you tip them out.

 

It's why I use deeper pots for mine, and I usually plant out the whole pot. Minimal disturbance. I rarely separate them.
Direct sowing isn't always ideal - mice love them, so I rarely sow direct into containers, although if I have a couple of seeds left over, I might add them.

It's always about your location and general climate as to when you sow and when you plant though, and sweet peas are always better/stronger if they germinate slowly - 2 to 3 weeks is ideal.
Our winters are definitely becoming much milder here where I am. April can be a month when we could get every type of weather from frost and sun, wind and rain, to snow and ice. I'd much rather have snow/frost than wind and rain, but that's just how it is.
That might become easier in future, but I'd rather wait than lose plants, especially if I've run out of a particular seed!

 

I sowed some seeds collected from our plants last year 2 weeks ago indoors. They are just starting to germinate. When they are big enough they will be planted out. As @fairygirl says mice love them so if sown directly in the ground we never see them again.