Special Offers Flowers & Plants Seeds Fruit & Vegetables House Plants New & Trending Tool Shed Outdoor Living Garden Tips

100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee

Refer A Friend And Get 20% Off*

Our Customers Rate Our Excellent Service

Track your order through my orders

Growing sweet peas with kids

As well as smelling fantastic, sweet peas are great for pollinators and look lovely in the garden, or in jam jars in your home. They come in lots of colours - so try a few varieties to see which ones you like best. Just like magic, the more you pick, the more they grow!

What you'll need:

• Packet of sweet pea seeds
• Compost
• Pots or toilet roll tubes
• Cling film
• Sticks, canes, twine

Step 1: Start your seeds

sweetpeas being started out in toilet roll tubes

Sweet peas like to grow in tall, thin pots
Image: Ian Grainger/ Shutterstock

• Fill your toilet roll tubes with compost and put them in a tray.
• Make a hole and drop two to three seeds in.
• Sprinkle compost over the seeds.
• Water the soil and cover with cling film.
• Put your tray on a warm, sunny windowsill. Keep the soil moist.
• In about a week, when the seeds have germinated, take the plastic off.

Step 2: Make your stick wigwam

Tie string around the wigwam for support
Image: Peter Turner Photography/ Shutterstock

• Choose a sunny place outside to plant your sweet peas.
• You can grow them in a container or the ground, but add some fresh compost or manure.
• Find three long sticks or canes.
• Push them into the soil in a triangle shape, about 30cm apart.
• Tie the canes together at the top to make a wigwam. The sweet peas will wind their way up the poles.

Step 3: Plant your sweet peas outside

Ready to pick!
Image: Peter Turner Photography/ Shutterstock

• Take your sweet peas outside each day for about a week but bring them in at night.
• When they're ready, make a hole next to each cane and plant your seedlings.
• When they're about 10cm tall, pinch out the tip of each stem to make the plant bushy and strong.
• Sweet peas are thirsty. Water them every morning.
• Sweet peas keep flowering all summer if you pick the flowers regularly and remove any dead ones. This is called 'deadheading'.
• Never eat the seed pods - they're poisonous.

Popular sweet pea varieties

• Sweet pea: 'Eleanor Udall'
• Sweet pea: 'Fragrantissima'
• Sweet pea: 'King Size Navy Blue'
• Sweet pea: 'Winston Churchill'

There's plenty more information in the downloadable guide. Print it out for more detailed instructions and even more sweetpea facts! For even more advice on growing sweet peas, head to our sweet pea hub page.

	Click the image to download the full pdf guide

Growing sweet peas with kids

What you'll need:

Step 1: Start your seeds

Step 2: Make your stick wigwam

Step 3: Plant your sweet peas outside

Popular sweet pea varieties

See all the Kids Grow guides

Individual guides

Fruit, veg and salad

Flowers

Growing sweet peas with kids

What you'll need:

Step 1: Start your seeds

Step 2: Make your stick wigwam

Step 3: Plant your sweet peas outside

Popular sweet pea varieties

See all the Kids Grow guides

Individual guides

Fruit, veg and salad

Flowers

Sign Up For Exclusive Special Offers