178 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



abundance and their size, and it will be possible to pluck them in 

 plenty throughout the remaining days of summer. 



The aim of not a few sweet-pea experts nowadays is to have their 

 favourite flower in bloom from January to October. This can 

 only be achieved, of course, by the aid of glass and artificial 

 heat. Sweet peas can be induced to bloom in the middle of 

 winter if they be sown in pots in September, and be grown 

 on steadily, without undue forcing, in a gentle heat. But the 

 task is not an easy one, for the simple reason that the sweet pea 

 is a hardy plant, and unless very carefully handled it resents 

 forcing. 



The average amateur gardener, however, is always anxious to 

 have his sweet peas in bloom at the earliest possible moment. 

 With this object in view he can sow in pots in the autumn. 



The pots are placed in a cold frame, and if they survive the 

 winter, seeds thus sown will produce an early and probably a 

 more abundant crop of bloom than seeds sown at the normal time. 

 The great essential in connection with autumn sowing is to keep 

 the plants cool and dry, and not to put them out of doors into their 

 flowering places until all danger of severe frosts is over say, 

 about the middle of April. 



A further sowing can be made under glass in February. The 

 seeds should be sown five or six round the edge of a five-inch pot, 

 and one in the middle, or singly, in thumb pots, as shown in Figures 

 1 and 2 of Diagram 17. An excellent plan is to call in the aid of a 

 disused egg box, as depicted in Figure 3, sowing one seed only in 

 each division. When planting-out time comes the sides of the 

 box can be broken away, and the plants can be easily removed 

 without disturbing the roots in any way. While the soil should 

 be fairly light, it is a good plan to have mixed with it a fair quantity 

 of leaf mould. The roots bind well round such a compost, and 

 this assists the separation of the plants when the time comes for 

 planting out. 



The pots should be placed on a bed of cinders in a cold frame, 

 giving plenty of air in mild weather, and protection from severe 

 frosts by means of mats placed over the glass. 



