Alaska News

Jeff Lowenfels: Start your sweet peas in February

When we get this close to Valentine's Day, I have to remind myself, and perhaps you, that the last half of February is time to get sweet peas and plant them. This is the newest trick to get the most and the earliest blooms. You can still start yours in April, like we used to, but what else do you have to do right now?

For the uninitiated, sweet peas are wonderful plants to grow in Alaska. They do best when temperatures are cool, especially at night, and they thrive in the moist conditions we (normally) have. They are very easy to grow and can be grown in garden beds as well as in containers. (There are even a few tiny plants designed for small pots).

Anyhow, back to the seeds and planting them now. The idea is to pinch back seedlings a few times before they are transplanted outdoors in the middle of April. This will cause them to branch, and branching results in more flowering sites, and that means more blossoms. The only problem is that you will have some plants that will need care for a bit longer than you might like.

Seed rakes are popping up, or will be in a store near you soon, and nurseries are gearing up too. They have starts to get going, after all. These are the places to look for sweet pea seed. There are plenty of mail-order houses to get them as well. The two I recommend are Renee's Garden because this "new" method of growing was her idea and Rose Marie Nichols' Nichols Garden Nursery because Rose Marie was the one who passed the tip on to me. Both have great selections of sweet peas.

For my money, these are plants to grow for their scent. However, they are so easy to breed for color that over the years, many — while absolutely gorgeous — have lost their scent. Many breeders are trying to re-introduce scent. English gardeners swear by Cupani and Matucana as the most fragrant varieties. The key here is to read the descriptions carefully. They will tell you all you need to know, though it is hard to get by words such as "delicious," "luscious" and "perfumed" without wanting them all.

Why would you want to buy a non-scented variety? Well, some of them are simply smashing or just the right height, or they have a color that you absolutely must have in your garden palette. Consider, too, that if you are a fan of those so-easy-to-grow flowers and want to plant more than one variety of sweet pea, planting one scented variety amongst a couple of non-scented ones makes sense, so you don't get a clash of smells in the garden but still get color variety.

Another reason to read the descriptions carefully is that you may find some that bloom early and some late and thus can make a nice season out of your selection. Of course, it helps to start them early so you can start inching them back early.

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Seeds are easy to start. They benefit from soaking in water for a couple of days. I use warm water in a thermos. Those that float to the top after this treatment are duds. Or, you can carefully nick the hard, outer coating of the seed (think the outside of an M&M) so water can get in and then plant them in individual containers that drain and are filled with well-draining soil.

These are legumes, which form a symbiotic relationship with special, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The big advantage of buying seeds at a nursery is that they usually have these bacteria available to coat seeds. If not, you can apply it when you transplant, so keep an eye out for a packet.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Amaryllis and cyclamen: These are sold during the Valentine's season. Buy some. They are great, indoor, flowering plants that will come back year after year.

Lights, cameras, action: OK, forget the cameras and action. You need lights if you don't have them so that you can start seeds indoors for spring planting. We are almost ready to start, and you need a setup. Go to an indoor grow store or a store that sells lighting fixtures and get a setup. You will not regret it.

Jeff Lowenfels

Jeff Lowenfels has written a weekly gardening column for the ADN for more than 45 years. His columns won the 2022 gold medal at the Garden Communicators International conference. He is the author of a series of books on organic gardening available at Amazon and elsewhere. He co-hosts the "Teaming With Microbes" podcast.

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