Hi Abbie...My sweet peas got off to a slow start too. I have the annual and perinnal type of Sweet Peas. I have kept my pretty moist at all times, and my love the ferterlizer. You may need to amend your soil next year to help retain the moister. Hope this helps..
Good Gardening..
Martha

Mine are gowing great guns! I'm very happy with my wintersown ones. They are growing up my trellis and looking great...

I don't have clay soil, but mine are very small, too. I WS'ed them and they are maybe--MAYBE--a foot tall. I've heard that they don't like the heat of the summer, so I'm hoping that they just survive that and maybe give me some bloom in the fall. *sigh*

There are sweetpeas growing wild behind my fire station every year. I gathered about a cup of seeds and scattered about half right away, and the rest last spring. NONE grew! I bought a pack of seeds at the store, and planted per the instructions. Guess what; NONE grew!! I gave up on them!
I also have not been able to start Cleomes (spider flowers)from seed. They self sow and grow by the hundreds, so I end up just transplanting them when they are a few inches high. They love to grow in the gravel of my driveway, so they are easy to pull up and replant. Good luck!
Alan

Thanks, all. Now I know it's not just me!

Do try winter sowing them, or putting them to soak over night before planting in a box THEN planting out. I've never had luck direct sowing them.

I have "matricana" and it is really glorious! Give it a shot. Thompson & Morgan carries it, but I think I got my seed from Value seeds.

I both winter-sowed and direct sowed sweet peas. The direct sown sweet peas either did not germinate or quickly petered out. I planted out my winter-sowed sweet peas in May or so into amended clay, under a teepee. They took longer to grow and bloom than the plants I moved into a container, but now they are about 3 feet tall and blooming like gangbusters. I tied mine to my teepee with strips of pantyhose. They weren't climbing the structure well on their own.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cincinnati Cape Cod

Gee, I did nick my seeds with a knife and soaked them for more than 24 hrs before sowing them. They're tall now and have climbed the teepee but NO blooms. Not a one.

Yes, I do wish I hadn't made the teepee the focal point of my main flower bed this year. No, I won't be making that mistake again. Sigh...

I finally got two blossoms on my sweet peas! They popped just yesterday. I planted mine in a raised bed so it's good soil. I guess that Ohio weather is just not their "cuppa tea".

Don't give up hope yet!

~~Mimi

I'll have to figure out how to post my matricana...it is blooming it's fool head off! Great plant!

Mine didn't do to well either...I had some bloom in June but not much of show...Bought annual seeds from store...put out at least 3 pks in two different places but only handful showed up and not well at that! I did the soaking overnight...Last year they did excellent...

juanital

Well, my Sweet Peas finally took off! They are blooming like crazy now that it's October!

Must be the goofy Ohio weather!

~~Mimi

My sweet peas are still blooming and growing...plus, they've self-sown, and I have babies starting up. I have very heavy clay soil, but it is alkaline...I do have an iris which thinks it needs to Bloom! I'm not sure if it is a rebloomer , or one which just got a late start from me transplanting it...or something...dunno, but my eyeballs just about popped out at it!