sweet pea trouble

by Pansy
(Halifax)

I have been trying to start sweet peas for several summers to no avail. Started in peat pots. they germinate but are very hard to transplant -- they collapse on the ground. Sown direct they don't even seem to germinate. I follow the instructions "plant as soon as soil can be worked' -- in Halifax this is mid-April. Are the seeds rotting (it's still cold and damp here). Are critters eating the seeds? Do you have any suggestions? I love sweet peas and would like to grow a riotous fence-ful.

Doug says that sweet peas are treated just like regular peas although they don't germinate as easily. I'd suggest the following. Don't bury them as deeply as the packages suggest (no more than 1 cm) and do wait for the ground to warm up so you can put your wrist on the soil without it being "too cold" - probably wait another few weeks.