What varieties did you grow?

To get the long stems you need to prepare the soil well, never let it dry out whilst growing, get good varieties and start them off early, and don't mollycoddle them before planting out early April.

My stems have been fine this year....just the flowers poor.

You two are lucky. i wouldn't even mind short stems, but neither of my lot have worked. Neither the ones sown in pots nor sown direct. They haven't reached above 6". i know things have failed due to the very wet and cold conditions with me. Even my peas are quite small, and the pods are sparse. Maybe 6 pods to date with tiny peas within.

I think this year has shown the merits of overwintering the plants before planting out.
The season has been particularly bad for bud drop, when stems are formed but the buds drop off , but if that hadn't been the case I'd have cut the first stems middle of June, and I'm still cutting at least 20 on a daily basis at present.
I've also layered twice, meaning that the plants from top to bottom if I hadn't done so would be at least
12 foot tall !!!

Hi, I am new to the site, it looks very useful.
I have grown Sweet Peas for the first time this year, and although the stems are short the flowers are lovely, lots of vases full. I haven't a clue what I am doing, just thought I would give it a go, but will do more research for next year, so any tips most welcome.
I ran out of space for them, and so put a few in hanging baskets, and they are lovely, generating a lot of positive comments.
Great to find somewhere I can ask lots of 'silly' questions as they come up!