I have both growing now. My sweet peas are already blooming and MG are really close. Sweet peas are my birth flower (April) according to the farmers almanac, April 1st is the day to sow sweet peas. So I do. Some I start inside and when they are ready to plant out I put a few packs of seeds in with the seedlings. By this time it's hard to tell which ones were started inside and which ones were direct sown. I do the morning glories the same time and the same way. I have never tried to sow them this late but I suppose you could. The bunnies got to my MG's so I posted here as to what to do and Trudi said to start some new ones to enjoy later in the season when the bunnies aren't so hungry. I didn't but the ones that have survived are ready to bloom. With this warm weather they should germinate quickly. I'd say try it, if it works you know you can do them late, if it doesn't try sowing early spring. Here are my sweetpeas http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m91/maidinmontana/?action=view&current=100_0511.jpg http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m91/maidinmontana/?action=view&current=100_0515.jpg and morning glories http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m91/maidinmontana/?action=view&current=100_0513.jpg http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m91/maidinmontana/?action=view&current=100_0512.jpg

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.

sweet peas are some of the earliest seeds you can plant. "as soon as the ground can be worked" which was a while ago.

I think it's a bit too early, even for those cool season crops. Today the average minimum in MN is 33 F, but if you look at record lows, you see it often gets much colder than that well into May. MN's last average frost date is between May 1 and May 31. The cool season crops can be planted about three weeks before the last frost. I'll plant my mesclun, chard, beets, etc. toward the end of April. If you rig up a cold frame or greenhouse, you could start earlier though. Once they're planted, can they survive a snow? It depends on how cold it gets and for how long. I'll cover them with a sheet for short cold spells and they survive fine.