Our much loved sweet peas can never 'become' perennial. As they stop flowering and begin to make seed, they'll also begin to die off. In cool climates, if they are regularly deadheaded (kept juvenile, rather than allowed to mature), they can continue to flower until the days begin to really shorten. Even if one were to go to all extremes to keep one of these plants alive, it would still not be a perennial, but an annual coaxed into a long term juvenile growth stage. And it wouldn't be very happy, I'll bet, lol! I haven't grown Sweet Peas in ages, having gotten out of the habit when I lived for many years in coastal 8 SC. I can still remember that wonderful fragrance, though.

I planted some sweet peas seeds in peat pots two weeks ago and one has sprouted quite strongly here in Southern California. One of my dogs fines peat pots very interesting to play with so I just sowed more seeds directly in the ground. I just try to keep the soil around the sweet peas seeds relatively moist until the damp seasonal weather arrives. That's when sweet peas really start to grow well...

They like them some good soil, so incorporate some good stuff in your planting patch. Maybe even dig down a foot. Even 5 linear feet of a sweet pea patch should give you more than enough bouquets, so a small amount of work turning and sprucing up your soil is worth the effort. I put the seed in a glass of water overnight before sowing, which I do sometime around Halloween. Sow a little more than an inch deep and maybe 3 or 4 inches between seeds...you can thin later if necessary. The only other tip to stave off disappointment is when seedlings emerge, they must be protected by some sort of caging from birds, which will nip the seedlings when small. Once the seedlings get to 5 or 6 inches tall, they are usually safe and protection can be removed. It is also a good idea to put in your climbing structures early...if yours will be climbing a fence, perhaps you can just put up strings or netting or chicken wire for them to climb up...sounds easy. It is easier to have these climbing aids in place before the sweet peas grow too much. Sow in Oct - Nov, flowers from May to almost July. Garden jewels that everyone loves.

I've found out now as I have both growing. The pods on sweet peas are covered in downy hair and if you touch them and lock your fingers there is a bitter taste. Edible pea pods have a smooth skin and there is a flower but it's not the main event.