Sowing vetch - how to do it

Sow sweet peas yourself - a little guide

Semen procurement

You can get wick seeds in any good, assorted garden market. If you are already cultivating vetch in your garden, you can harvest the seeds yourself. Do not remove what has withered in autumn, but let the flowers dry out. Flattened legumes are formed, in which the seeds are located. These have to mature until they begin to open laterally. Now remove the seeds, which are up to half a centimeter in size. Let these dry for a few days on a piece of kitchen paper and keep the seeds, packed in small paper bags, until they are ready for sowing.

The sowing in the house

You can raise vetch in the house from the beginning of February. They then bloom in the open ground in early summer and thrive particularly vigorously. Follow these steps:

Let the seeds swell in lukewarm water.
Fill the growing containers with nutrient-poor growing soil.
Place seeds three centimeters apart on the lightly pressed surface of the earth.
Sweet peas are dark germs. Therefore, cover the seeds with soil about an inch thick.
Moisten carefully with a sprayer.
Cover the planter with a hood or a transparent plastic bag (greenhouse climate).
Set up in a bright, but not full sun place.
The optimal germination temperature is between 15 and 18 degrees. An unheated winter garden or the stairwell is ideal.

Sweet peas germinate quickly and it only takes one to two weeks for the first shoot tips to appear. Due to the spacing between the plants, the plants only need to be separated in exceptional cases. It is important to give the plants additional support as soon as they have reached a height of ten centimeters. Shish kebab skewers that you stick in the potting soil next to the young plants are well suited.

Sow in the field

Vetches are robust and can also be sown directly in the bed. The right time for this is early to mid-May, as soon as there is no longer any threat of night frosts. Loosen the potting soil thoroughly so that the young plants find optimal conditions. The seeds are placed in pairs with a planting distance of about 10 centimeters and covered one centimeter thick with soil. Then it is carefully poured with a very soft rain shower.