A week ago all my sweet peas looked like this. I had moved them into their planter, and instead of shooting up faster and stronger like I thought they would, they started to shrivel, developing white patches on their leaves where they had dried, and thin brown stems.

I couldn’t find any information in the internet to help me, all similar posts being answered by people mentioning a white ‘coating’ and sweet pea virus. I tried more water, less water, more fertiliser, but by plants continued to suffer. I wondered if I should have pinched them out to start with – I read conflicting accounts of whether to pinch, some stating it should be done with no possibility of another option, others stating it was not necessary, and led to more plentiful, but smaller, blooms. Since my plants were already too tall by the time I realised I should have pinched them, I left it.

Today, I notice a lot of much stronger, greener, younger shoots have poked through. They have more ‘bits’ sprouting off them, the kind of shapes I would expect to turn into flowers based on what my mange tout peas have looked like.

Given that I planted these hoping to have armfuls of sweet-smelling flowers, a few would be nice.