Fill Your Summer Garden With Vivid Colors By Sowing This Plant In Early Spring

Colorful spring and summer flowers are the perfect antidote to a long, gray winter. Available in pink, orange, gold, and several other hues, sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) blooms are some of the most vibrant you can plant. They can also make your garden healthier. In addition to boosting your mood, these ornamental plants add nitrogen to your garden's soil, just like their vegetable-producing cousins do. Since sweet peas thrive in USDA plant hardiness zones 2a through 10b, you can grow them almost anywhere in the United States and Canada. Help these climbing beauties bloom as soon as possible by planting them in the early spring, once frost is unlikely.

When planting sweet peas, choose a site with well-draining soil and at least six hours of direct sunlight each day. Generally speaking, the more sun these plants get, the happier they will be. Give each sweet pea about 3 ½ feet of space to grow in a raised bed or in-ground garden. To support their vining tendrils, which can reach as high as 8 feet, provide a trellis or stakes. If creating a support system sounds too daunting, or if you have limited space for gardening, plant shorter types of sweet peas in containers and let their tendrils spill over the sides. This arrangement works well for large pots, window boxes, and hanging baskets. Once the plants' sweet-smelling flowers start blooming, they'll attract butterflies and bees. Some of the most fragrant sweet pea cultivars are pink-petaled "Gwendoline" and crimson-flowered "Black Knight."

Sweet peas are easy to grow from seed, but there are a few pieces of knowledge that can set you up for success. Telling the seeds that it's time to germinate is your first order of business. Scarification is a simple way to send this message. To do it, just rub each seed's coating with sandpaper. You can also soak your seeds to help them sprout faster. If you've scrubbed the seeds, wrap them in a wet cloth for 8 hours before planting. If not, soak the plants' seeds in a vinegar solution overnight to encourage germination. Mixing 1 tablespoon of vinegar into a cup of water thins the seed shells, alerting them that it's time to sprout.

Before sowing sweet pea seeds, consider how to regulate the soil's temperature. Since sweet peas dislike heat, they appreciate a thick layer of root-cooling mulch. Once the seeds are in the ground, water them thoroughly to keep them cool and remind them that it's time to grow. If all is well, sprouts will appear in a week or two. The soil should remain slightly damp throughout the spring and summer. Wondering if your sweet peas need more water? Push a finger into the earth near the plants. If the top inch is moist, you're good to go. 

For maximum flowering, make sure the soil surrounding your sweet peas has plenty of nutrients. Adding compost to the planting site can help, or try a fertilizer with more phosphorous than nitrogen. An occasional dose of time-release granular fertilizer such as Schultz Bloom Food slow-release should do the trick.