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Sweet peas need a supporting structure. At your whim the structure may be plain or fancy, but it must be sturdy. Use your imagination to build the structure that meets your needs. Healthy plants have a lot of foliage. When it rains the weight of the foliage will cause a weak structure to collapse. In England the sweet peas are typically supported with bamboo canes or grown around a wigwam structure.
My structure is practical, not pretty. In the row to the left I used 8’ steel fence posts set 8’ apart. I hung chicken wire (2-inch holes, 5 feet height) between the poles. I started the chicken wire 12" above the ground, so that I ended up with growing height up to six feet.
The structure to the right consists of 8' steel posts set 8' apart. Between the tops of the steel posts I strung heavy duty wire. Leaning against, and secured to the wire with garden twine at 6 inch intervals, were bamboo canes. The canes were barely stuck into the ground.
In the picture you can ignore the stakes. These are my markers for the different varieties in my trial patch and are irrelevant to the 'structure' discussion.
This year I am using the chicken wire exclusively for practical reasons. It was both cheaper and easier to maintain throughout the growing season. When I have a good year, my plants go well over the top.
You probably cannot see them in the photo, but when I put up my structure, I also lay 'ooze hose' in each row.
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