Hi everyone! I'm Kim at Shiplap and Shells, and I am a cut flower gardener here in the
pacific northwest, about 60 miles southwest of Seattle, Washington. I am gardening zone 8b.
So, today I am going to share with you how I sew my sweet pea seeds in the greenhouse.
But first, make sure you hit the subscribe button and the notification bell, so anytime that Kellogg
has a great video to share with you to help you with your garden, you'll be notified. Sweet peas
are one of my very favorite cut flowers for the garden in spring and early summer. The colors are
so vibrant and if you are growing them from seed, you're going to have a variety to choose from.
Every year I pick four different varieties and I mix them all on the same trellis,
and it's just such an amazing pop of color out there. And not only that, but you're going to have
such an incredible fragrance. When you bring them into the house it's all you smell, they smell so
amazing. So, I'm going to show you the supplies that we need when we're sewing the sweet peas.
You're going to want a seed starter mix, you're going to want containers that are deep enough
for the sweet pea roots because they do grow very deep, you're going to want the sweet pea seeds,
labels, a drainage tray, and a plastic dome lid. Sweet peas love the cold,
so they're the very first seed that I sew in the season. You can check on the back of your
packet, it usually tells you when you can start sewing them indoors. But, I look at about eight to
ten weeks. Sweet peas produce an abundant amount of roots, so when you're choosing your container
you really want to make sure that you are picking something that is going to have enough room for
the roots to grow. You can use a four-inch pot, you can use root trainers. I just picked up,
last year I picked up some annuals from the local nursery and I'm just going to use these again.
Another important tip is if you are using containers again, this year, that you already
had plants in last year, make sure you're cleaning them properly to prevent diseases from spreading.
And so, I use a 90 water 10 bleach solution. I would recommend you use a good seed starting
mix when you're sewing your seeds, it will make all the difference in the world. By using a seed
starting mix, it's going to help to germinate quickly, hold the moisture, and allow the roots
to penetrate down into the garden soil more quickly. So, I have a little tip to make your
seed starter mix last even longer. What I do is, I will fill up half the container with potting soil,
and then I'll fill the rest of it up with the seed starter. And then, as long as your seed
is in with the seed starter you're good to go! It's also going to be really important to moisten
both your soils, your potting mix and your seed starting mix, before you put them into the tray.
So, you don't want to drench them, you just want to dampen them and make sure they're moist. So,
another thing that I've learned throughout the years that I've been doing this is, I have so
many plants and I get these craft sticks, you can get a box of a thousand for, not that much money,
and I use a sharpie, and I just put the information on the craft stick. The only thing is,
if you are going to transplant your plants to the garden and keep the labels with them,
you probably are going to want to use the regular labels because everything will wash off of these.
You've soaked your seeds for 24 hours, you have chosen your container, you've put the
mix in the container and now you're ready to go! So, I'm going to show you how to sew the seeds.
I'm filling up the cells halfway with the regular potting soil.
And then, I am going to make sure that when I'm filling them up I'm tapping on it
and I'm pressing down as well, just to make sure that I'm getting rid of all the air bubbles.
And then, I'm going to take the seed starter and fill up the rest
of the cell. I'm going to take each cell or each container and I'm going to make a half inch hole,
and I can use a dibbler or a pencil, you can even use your finger, and then I'm
just going to put the seeds inside the hole. And then, I'm going to sprinkle
the seed starting mix on top. And, it's really, really important to make sure that you label
each cell, each container. Okay, so now you have sewn your seeds, you've labeled it
with the variety and the date and now you're going to put them in the drainage tray, here. So,
I have filled the drainage tray with an inch of water and that is how you're going to water
your seeds until they get their first set of full leaves. I check it every few days
just to make sure that it's moist, you want to keep it moist and evenly moist,
and then I'll just put more water in. Do not let it sit in the water for more than
an hour. Then I'm going to take a plastic dome lid and I'm going to place it on top,
and that's going to increase the humidity and speed up germination. So, there you go,
you're all ready and you just need to make sure that you have a light and bright space so
they can start growing. That was pretty easy, right? So, just a couple things to recap. You
want to make sure that you soak your seeds for 24 hours before you sew, you want to find a
container that is deep enough for the abundant amount of roots that it's going to produce,
use seed starter mix, that's going to make all the difference in the world, make sure
you moisten it first. You want to have, we're going to sew two seeds per container or cell.
We're gonna label everything, that's important! You're gonna bottom water,
until you see the first set of true leaves. Do not leave them in for more than an hour.
And, you're going to put the plastic lid on the top to make sure that everything speeds up as far
as germination and it gets plenty of moisture. So, the other thing is, you want to have lots and lots
of sun, so don't forget that, and if you don't have a greenhouse or a bright area in your home,
make sure that you spend a little bit of extra money to buy a growing light. So,
I'd love to hear what you're doing in your garden this month, and if you have
any questions or ideas about sweet pea sewing, please be sure to leave them in the comments.
And don't forget to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell,
so you can get videos just like this from Kellogg to help you with your garden.