180 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



By the end of April, sweet peas raised in pots will be ready for 

 planting out in the open ground They will be five or six inches 

 high, putting forth their prehensile tendrils and seeking in vain 

 for the support of twigs and sticks. Unless this be given to them 

 without delay they will inevitably become lanky and misshapen. 

 But they will also be searching for a new and richer element in 

 which to thrust down their roots, and this can only be afforded 

 by planting them in the places in which they are to yield their 

 precious blossoms. 



As a rule, the amateur sows four or five seeds in a five-inch pot, 

 and where this is the case he will have to make up his mind 

 whether he shall plant his young sweet peas singly, giving them a 

 generous amount of space for development, or whether he shall 

 just turn them out from the pots and plant them in little clumps, 

 without disturbing the roots. If he has ambitions in the direction 

 of prize-winning in the show-tent, he will adopt the former plan, 

 allowing nine inches between each plant ; if his desire be merely 

 to obtain cut blooms for decorative purposes he will follow the 

 second alternative, and deploy his plants in tiny groups after the 

 method depicted in Figure 8 of Diagram 18. 



The ground will of course have been made ready previously for 

 the reception of the seedlings. It should have been well trenched 

 in the autumn, and well manured also. All that ought to be 

 necessary, when planting-out time arrives, is a light forking 

 over of the surface and a breaking up of the lumps of soil 

 which have not already been pulverised by the frost, the rain 

 and the wind. 



If the soil has been thus prepared, deep planting will be easy. 

 This is an important point to remember. It is not enough simply 

 to bury the roots ; the lower part of each stem ought also to be 

 well covered. Care must also be taken to plant firmly. The soil 

 should be pressed round the collar of each plant in such a way 

 that the stem may emerge from the centre of a saucer-shaped 

 cavity in the ground. This will be of assistance in the watering 

 of the plants, since it will direct the refreshing stream of moisture 

 direct to the very heart of the roots. 



