Growing High Quality Sweet Peas— By G. w. Kerr, 



Pennsyl- 



A PRACTICAL EXPLANATION BY A LEADING EXPERT, ESPECIALLY FOR THE AMATEUR — THE PRIME 

 IMPORTANCE OF GETTING A PROPER AND EARLY START — QUALITY VARIETIES FOR THE HOME GARDEN 



THE whole practice of sweet pea grow- 

 ing may be put concisely into these 

 very few words: Have the ground deeply 

 trenched and liberally manured, the plants 

 thinned and staked; do not allow a seed 

 pod to form; give copious watering, chang- 

 ing the liquid manure diet at each applica- 

 tion: keep the hoe going regularly. 



A GOOD BEGINNING 



An early start is the great secret of suc- 

 cess with sweet peas, for unless the seed is 

 got into the soil early the plants do not 

 really thrive, unless the season is excep- 

 tional; and even then the results would 

 have been much better if early planting 

 had been done. For the latitude of Phila- 

 delphia early planting means as early in 

 March as soil conditions will allow. It is 

 not Avell to plant while the ground is wet 

 and soggy, but I would rather get the seed 

 into the soil even should it be on the wet 

 side than perhaps have to delay until well 

 into April, waiting for ideal conditions, 

 for never will sweet peas give first class 

 results if planted after the middle of 

 April. They may make abundant growth 

 and even produce buds in plenty but 

 fine flowers are invariably conspicuously 

 absent. Allow me to state here that I 

 decidedly prefer fall planting, but that of 

 course is out of the question at this date. 



If the ground was not prepared in the 

 fall it must get attention now, at once, 

 just as soon as the frost is out of the land, 

 and it is dry enough to work nicely. Good 

 results with sweet peas may be obtained 

 by cultivating as for any ordinary garden 

 crop, but if you want (and surely you do) 

 the "best ever" — flowers that will be 

 the envy of your neighborhood — a little 

 special preparation is necessary. 



Select by preference a spot where the 



vines will have plenty of light and air, on 

 no account under trees, or where branches 

 will overhang the plants ; though a position 

 where trees or buildings at some distance 

 will shade the plants from the mid-day and 

 early afternoon sun, is ideal. 



MAKING ALL LIT 



Trench the ground eighteen inches to 

 two feet deep, and two feet wide where the 

 row will run. Should the bottom soil be 

 poor it must not be brought to the top, but 

 improved by turning it over in the bottom 

 of the trench and incorporating with it 

 rather long strawy manure, or the roughest 

 material of the compost heap, or garden 

 refuse — in fact anything that will lend 

 humus and tend to sweeten it. Over this 

 bottom spit put a layer of well rotted 

 manure (cow manure for preference), cover 

 with three inches of soil, ghing this layer 

 a dressing of fine bone meal at the rate 

 of two ounces per yard run of the row. 

 On top of that add two inches of soil, and 

 then another layer of well rotted manure, 

 afterward levelling up the trench incor- 

 porating with the top spit freshly slaked 

 lime at the rate of four ounces per yard. 

 Let each layer of manure be three inches 

 thick. Just previous to planting rake 

 into the top of the trench, along the centre 

 where the seed will be sown, some acid 

 phosphate, at the rate of two ounces per 

 yard run of row. Consolidate the ground 

 by rolling or treading and you are ready 

 for planting. 



Plant the seed about two inches deep — 

 not less. One ounce is sufficient for fifteen 

 feet run of row ; but when planting new and 

 expensive varieties plant the individual 

 seeds from one to two inches apart. If 

 several rows are being planted let them be 

 at least five feet apart. 



Give ample spa 



n the rows — five feet. Note how the vines spread outward at the top 



10 



It often happens that after a few fine 

 genial days in March (during which we get 

 our seed planted) a very cold and damp 

 spell of weather sets in with the result 

 that the seed instead of swelling, rots in 

 the ground, the worst sufferers being the 

 white seeded and some of the lavender and 

 blue flowered varieties. This can be 

 guarded against very easily by the old 

 fashioned trick of soaking the seed, before 

 sowing, in tepid water for twelve hours 

 or so. This treatment hurries germina- 

 tion, and if the seed once sends forth 

 the little embryo plant there is not much 

 danger of things going wrong subsequently, 

 no matter how cold and inclement the 

 weather may be. 



SOWING IN POTS 



There is still another and better plan 

 for starting sweet peas in the early spring — 

 sowing in pots. It is the one method for 

 the man who wants superlative results, 

 but it means more work, which however 

 is amply repaid by superior growth. I 

 have employed this method extensively for 

 a number of years — in fact all choice 

 novelties, advance trials and crosses are 

 planted in pots, my method being — ac- 

 cording to the scarcity of the variety — to 

 plant from two to five seeds in a three and 

 a half or four inch pot, using soil that is 

 not too tenacious or heavy. Fill the pot 

 to one inch from the top with soil, making 

 it fairly firm but not hard, plant the seeds 

 at equal distances and cover with half an 

 inch of soil thus allowing half an inch for 

 watering. Place labels in each pot so that 

 there may be no mixing of the varieties 

 when planting out. The best date for 

 sowing in pots being the latter part of 

 February. 



The pots must be placed in a cool green- 

 house or coldframe, the former for pre- 

 ference. Do not over water but at the 

 same time the soil must be kept moist to 

 encourage germination. Much artificial 

 heat must be avoided, and if the pots are 

 in a greenhouse the heat should range from 

 40 at night to 50 during the day. Too 

 great a heat is bad resulting in weak and 

 spindly growth, instead of dwarf and 

 sturdy. Wherever weather conditions will 

 allow the seedlings must have lots of air 

 night and day. When about two inches 

 high the pots should be removed to a cold- 

 frame inserting short brush in the pots that 

 the vines may have support and so induce 

 upright growth. Take off the sashes com- 

 pletely during the day in favorable weather, 

 and give a little air at night unless the 

 weather should be very severe, the idea 

 being to make the plants perfectly hardy 

 before planting out, which means that they 

 must be so hardened that they may be left 

 entirely uncovered for a few days previous. 



