SWEET PEAS IN THE GARDEN 



EDWIN VTh^Y, TORONTO^ ONT. 



SWEET PE*AS require plenty of mois- 

 ture. Some growers recommend 

 pouring a stream of water into the trenches 

 until they are full, and then not watering 

 again until they are dry. I have not found 

 this system beneficial. 



The greatest enemy the Sweet Pea has in 

 the hot weather is the red spider, or as some 

 call it, " the mite." These attack from the 

 ground up, and the result of their work is 

 shown by the leaves starting to wither and 

 dry up near the earth, and gradually doing 

 so higher and higher until the vine droops 

 and dies long before it has reached maturity. 

 The best preventive for this is a good 

 sprinkling of water every day, and in the 

 very hot days twice a day. 



Fix your hose nozzle so that it will give 

 a moderately fine spray, and get the water 

 all over the foliage, back and front if possi- 

 ble. Never let the ground get thoroughly 

 dry, and never keep it too wet. The quan- 

 tity of water they require at the roots will 

 depend very much on tne soil ; if it is sandy 

 and of a very porous nature you can hardly 

 give them too much, if the soil is clay be 

 more sparing, and should the surface cake 

 and become hard (as all clay soils will do), 

 rake the surface gently about an inch deep. 

 If your seeds come up very thickly, pull up 

 every other one, until the plants are not less 

 than 3 or 4 inches apart. 



Have the supports for the vines to climb 

 ready as soon as they are 2 or 3 inches in 

 height. Do not, as I have seen many do, 

 leave the plants until they are quite tall, be- 

 fore giving them something for the tendrils 

 to cling to. The very best material for this 

 purpose is brush. If you cannot get this, 

 poultry netting with meshes i inch or ly^ 

 inches in diameter is very good, or put in 

 some 2 X 4-inch scantlings every 10 feet in 

 the row, leaving them 6 feet out of the 

 ground, and stretch a galvanized iron wire 

 (about No. 19) on each side of this scant- 



ling every six inches. By putting the 4- 

 inch side of the scantling across the rows 

 this will give two lines of wire 4 inches 

 apart, with the peas growing up between. 



If the vines are allowed to grow too tall 

 before giving them support they become 

 crooked and cannot afterwards be straight- 

 ened, and your flowers will have very 

 crooked stems. The rows of wire need not 

 be put on all at once, but can be put on two 

 by two as required. Keep the posts 

 stretched apart by nailing i inch by i^i 

 inch strips (furring) from post to post 

 along their tops. 



Sweet Peas will not thrive in a shady 

 place. Let them have all the sun you can. 

 Keep every flower which is fully developed 

 cut each day. Do not attempt to save seed 

 from the vines you are cutting flowers from. 

 If you want to save your own seed, keep 

 one plant of each kind for that purpose, and 

 don't cut any ilowers from that one at all. 

 You cannot hope to get good seed from a 

 plant that is continually exhausting its 

 vitality in its endeavor to replace the flowers 

 you keep cutting away. 



RAISING LARGE FLOWERS, 



If you want to get extra large flowers for 

 exhibition or otherwise, disbud the same as 

 you would a Chrysanthemum, and only let 

 the number of buds come to maturity that 

 you require. The best time to water is in 

 the evening, but I have never found any 

 damage done even when watering on a hot 

 day with the sun full out. Cut what flow- 

 ers you want before you begin to water, as 

 the water and sun combined will damage 

 the flowers that are open. 



If you find the usual bright green of the 

 foliage is becoming pale your ground is pro- 

 bably not rich enough. When this is the 

 case I have found a heaping tablespoonful 

 of nitrate of soda dissolved in a pail of water 

 and poured along the roots about once a 

 week, very beneficial. 



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