Sweet Peas Are Prolific Givers.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 7 (Supplement)

Sweet Peas Are Prolific Givers.

NOT many annuals, if any, produce so great a number of flowers for cutting, or of such exquisite tints as does the sweet pea; and so long as the flowers are regularly cut, and no seedpods are allowed to form, the supply is kept up. Neglect this, and the plants cease to bloom.

Give them plenty of water in dry weather, and feed them, and no plant will give a greater return of flowers for tho home. To grow them well for cutting, the ground should be dug and left in the rough until March, incorporating then sonic good stable manure. Take out a trench about eighteen inches deep, placing the top spit on one side, and the bottom spit on the other. Then place-in the trench about six inches of manure, and on it the soil of the top spit, and mix it well together, afterwards treading it down. Next give a good dressing of bonemcal, and place the bottom spit on top, again mixing it well together.

As a final addition, before sowing the seed, put on a layer of loam and leafmould. Do not run away with the idea that any soil and any 'stylo of sowing is good enough for this annual. In former days, a dozen seeds were sown where two" plants only are now allowed. At any rate, each plant should be six inches from its neighbour.

Sweet peas are very liable to the attacks of birds and slugs, and to combat these the rows or groups must be gone over frequently, dusting with a little powdered alum to control slugs. For the birds, stretch black cotton over tho rows and along the sides. In small

"ardens, where there is no convenience for rows, a good effect is obtained by planting in patches of threes and fours, and they mako a pretty show if the colours tiro selected with care.