Starting Seeds: Sweet peas

Sweet peas were the first seeds ever started over here at the Echo Garden. West Coast Seeds sells a huge assortment of them, and after a quick round of eeny-meeny-miny-moe, I settled on the "Mammoth Blend." The day I planted them (March 11), a master gardener, ignorant of my seed starts, informed me that if I was planning to transplant month old peas and sweet peas outside, now was the time to do it. Having hours old plants didn't jive with that advice. I took the lesson of my son's beloved Pete the Cat books to heart. Did Pete cry? Goodness no! And neither did I. This was life on the learning curve. Failure happens. I carried on, with hope that maybe it would all work out after all.

The sweet pea seeds were planted one per cell in a soilless seed starting mix. Ten of twelve sprouted (83%), but I hoped in vain that a couple more would come up. Next time, I'll plant two per cell and remove the weaker sprout. Early watering was done via a squirt bottle. The growth sort of capped out, so I dosed them with some dilute liquid plant food. This seemed to completely stall growth, so the tender roots may have been burned. After four weeks in the tiny cells and a period of poor growth, I decided to pot them up in planters and begin hardening them off to prepare them for life outdoors.

 

When I went to pot them up, I found out that the soil within the cells was dried out. No wonder the poor things weren't growing! The roots had also developed far less than I had anticipated. I decided to crowd them into two medium sized pots on the assumption that half would likely not survive. One shrimpy plant without leaves didn't make it, but the other nine did! I hope they like playing sardines, because there is no moving them now. They seem to love sunshine, warm spring days, and seaweed extract.The package said that they could grow to six feet, but being planted in less than ideal conditions lead the growth to stall out at about two feet. The railings on the deck were offered and declined as support, perhaps leading to the short stature.

There is something about being a heart mom that makes me want to keep all of the plants, even the scrawny, sick ones. It doesn't feel right to impose limits on them. Since the Echo Garden is about therapy first and esthetics second, I foster all of the scraggly plants I can find. My child may or may not have limitations due to his heart condition, especially exercise intolerance and learning delays. The thought of him having these issues does not itself cause me any worry, but the thought of him feeling unhappy and unfulfilled due to any deficits haunts me. It is my job to help him learn to be content and grateful for this wonderful life he has been given, while living boldly and not placing artificial limits on himself. So I practice by fostering sick and weak plants, by marveling at their blooms, leaves, and resilience, and by watching many grow into happy, healthy adult plants.

Once the sweet peas started blooming, the flowers just kept coming. The stems were not as long as I had hoped, but were strong enough to make small bouquets in re-purposed salsa and artichoke jars. They smell heavenly. Every few days I go and raid the plants for more, cutting off ALL the blooms to encourage more new ones. The cut flowers don't last long, but there is an ample supply out there. This is the pay off. There are many lessons to take forward from starting sweet peas, and I will certainly be growing them again next year.