Sweet peas with their radiant flowers in beautiful colors are among the most popular cottage garden plants. Relatively easy to care for and easy to cultivate, they adorn numerous green areas. Unfortunately, sweet peas self-seed in abundance and can become a real nuisance in locations where they feel comfortable.
The bindweed grows very profusely and thus quickly becomes a nuisance
prevent seed formation
So that it doesn't get that far in the first place, it is advisable to consistently remove all faded flowers throughout the flowering period. Each flower produces a flat pod containing six to eight seeds. Once fallen on the ground, the seeds usually survive the Central European winter unscathed and begin to germinate in spring. The vetch is a vigorous grower and the small plants reach considerable growth heights within a very short time.
You can take advantage of this. In places where you want to take care of sweet peas every year, you can let the pods mature and ensure that the plant germinates on its own.
Sweet peas can also thrive lying down
Both the bindweed and the wild-growing tufted vetch not only thrive climbing, but also like to grow lying down in the lawn. Since these plants are relatively undemanding, it can happen that they almost completely overgrow little-noticed corners of the garden. You should therefore regularly tear out vetches that are growing out of the bed.
There are special weedkillers for vetch on the market, which prove to be very helpful when there is too much uncontrolled growth. However, like all chemical weed killers, use them with care.
Vetches are ecologically valuable
However, it should not be concealed that the seeds of the tufted vetch contain a lot of protein and are an important source of food for many birds. Numerous wild bees, bumblebees and other insects also appreciate this wild vetch species, as it produces a lot of nectar over a period of weeks. If this vetch spreads in a corner of the garden where it does not disturb, you should consider the plant as a decorative crop from an ecological point of view.
tips
The very annoying garden bindweed is often confused with sweet peas. However, sweet peas have butterfly flowers while morning glory forms white, funnel-shaped flowers. The spread of winds is difficult to contain because this plant reproduces not only by seeds but also by root suckers.