[eggplant1]

Hi everyone. My sweetpeas are growing out the door and window of my green house and desperately need to get planted out before they swallow the next person who goes in there. I was going to plant them in the same containers as last year's but then I remembered something about their veggie cousins and legumes and rotating crops, etc. Would I have to replace the soil? Happy gardening!

[Maeve Drogheda]

Hi Eggplant1,

You can put the sweet pea in the same containers but change the soil or compost. I have sweet pea in pots, and they are just loving the good weather.

[eggplant1]

Thanks Maeve. That will be the afternoon torture but it will be worthwhile later

[michael brenock]

Legumes can be planted in the same ground provided there is no serious soil borne disease present from previous year. When it comes to flower plants one can afford to be more flexible regarding rotation. One of my former clients who grew excellent Scarlet Runner beans told me that his beans were good because they benefited from getting the residual Nitrogen from the roots of the previous years crop. He was the best grower of Runner beans that I knew.
This is contrary to my usual advise for rotation. I have often grown Sweet Peas in the same site for several years.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)

[Maeve Drogheda]

Hi Michael,

I had grown sweet pea in the same area also, but last year it didn't work out so this year I planted them in pots and put an oblisk in one and have another climbing up an old clematis.

I suppose gardening is always trial and error.

[eggplant1]

well I am going to have a controlled experiment because I emptied one pot and replaced the soil but left the second pot unchanged. This was inadvertent just because I ran out of time but now that I read the above, I'll leave the second pot and we can see what happens. Thanks for the advice.