When the seedlings were about 4" high, I pinched out the middle of one lot and left the others to do their thing.
This is the tub of unpinched-out sweet peas:
And this is the tub of pinched-out sweet peas. A clear winner, I think! These plants are so much more robust, with bigger leaves and loads more flowers to come.
Last year, after experimenting again, I came to the conclusion that sowing them in the autumn or the spring didn't really seem to make much difference. So now I know!
Brilliant experiment - those pinched out ones look so much healthier! I pinched out my sweet peas but not my eating peas, which are spindly and quite rubbish.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we know too - thank you!
ReplyDeleteI am the same as Silverpebble. Pinched out sweetpeas but not peas. Sweetpeas in abundance - eating peas spindly with barely a pea pod per stem!!! Please update us with your experiments and remind us when the bulbs are going cheap in M & S!!! (Please)! x
ReplyDeletei shall snip out from now on ~ thanks : )
ReplyDeleteI shall just admire them from afar.
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference! Thank you so much for passing along the hint. K x
ReplyDelete