CHAPTER XIII 



AUTUMN AND SPRING SOWING 



AUTUMN SOWING OUTDOORS 



ALTHOUGH many of our best growers raise their plants 

 under glass, it is astonishing what a number of Sweet Pea 

 enthusiasts succeed in producing really magnificent blos- 

 soms from sowings made outdoors in the Spring. Quite a 

 number of successful cultivators however would like to 

 make a sowing outdoors in the autumn, but because of 

 cold, uncharitable soil, and also of the location of their 

 gardens, they are denied this privilege, which must also 

 be considered a distinct advantage, especially for early 

 display. Sweet Peas when sown outdoors effect a con- 

 siderable economy in labour and time, nor are these the 

 only advantages. 



In some gardens it would be sheer folly to attempt an 

 autumn sowing, and we would only recommend those 

 whose garden soil is of light texture, or where there 

 is a gravel or other equally warm subsoil, to attempt 

 this early work. Heavy, retentive soils, with an equally 

 heavy, cold, and uncongenial clayey subsoil, should 

 deter those whose garden soil is thus described, from 

 attempting to sow Sweet Peas outdoors in the autumn. 

 We are quite aware that growers have succeeded in 

 such circumstances, but to regard this practice in a 

 general sense as applying to all, would be courting 

 failure. 



When to make an autumn sowing is a question that 



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