SWEET PEA DIFFICULTIES MADE CLEAR 49 



Sweet Pea Buds Falling 



Q. I wonder if you can tell me what causes my Sweet Pea buds 

 to fall off just as they are coining out. The plants look perfectly 

 healthy, but all the first flowers have been taken in this way, 

 leaving the stalk on just as if the buds had been picked off. I 

 enclose you some stalks, one of which has a bud just falling. $. /., 

 Oxted. 



A. The earliest buds often fall, and little anxiety need be felt as 

 the later ones are not affected. The cold wet weather of which we 

 have had so much this summer is no doubt responsible for the 

 flowers falling. If you have been overdosing them with manure the 

 buds would naturally fall. 



Preparing Ground for Sweet Peas 



Q. I wish to grow Sweet Peas on ground which is of a very heavy 

 nature ; about 18 inches down there is a kind of blue clay, which is 

 sticky when wet it is like cutting soap. I propose going down 

 about 2 feet, putting in road grit and manure, mixing well. Should 

 I be doing right in incorporating with the manure, etc., basic slag, or 

 would lime do as well 1 If so, in what proportions should I use 

 either, or both ? Should kainit and lime be applied when preparing 

 ground, or is it best to put on top of ground and hoe it in after 

 trenches are filled ? In Z>oubt, Enjield. 



A. Do not bring the clayey subsoil to the surface, but thoroughly 

 break it up and leave it below. Apply the basic slag at the rate of 

 4 oz. per square yard and mix it with the soil about 9 inches below 

 the surface. Apply lime at the rate of 8 oz. per square yard, and 

 put it on the surface. Both should be applied in the autumn, but the 

 lime one month after the basic slag. Four ounces of kainit per square 

 yard may be mixed with the latter and applied at the same time. 



About Stopping Sweet Peas 



Q. Is there any advantage in snipping off the tops of Sweet Pea 

 plants when a few inches high 1 Doubtful, Harrow. 



A, When Sweet Peas grow to the height of about 3 inches and 

 are then stopped, it has the effect of making the plants break out 

 from the base. Thus the Sweet Peas become bushy, producing more 

 growths from the base than would otherwise be the case. Pinching 

 back, provided it is not carried out to excess, also induces an 

 increased formation of roots, which is an advantage, especially to 

 floriferous plants like Sweet Peas. Plants which have been pinched 



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