Sweet-Peas.

‘Here are sweet-peas on tiptoe for a flight,
With wings of gentle flush o’er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings.’

We like to remind you of these charming lines by Keats, because then you will always think of them when you look at your own Sweet-peas on a summer day. But our business is to tell you how to grow them, so that they are ready for the poet when he comes by, and we do not begin with a summer day, but with one at the end of winter, when the seed lists come and set you thinking of spring. Sweet-peas have become such a popular flower of late years that we have heard people talk of the ‘Sweet-pea world,’ by which we suppose they meant the growers who cultivate the many new varieties and the rare shades. When you are grown up you will have to decide for yourself whether you belong to any of these ‘worlds’ in the florist’s sense of the word. We have never had the least desire to grow a black Tulip or a blue Rose, but there is no doubt that when ‘fanciers’ take up a flower they improve it for a time. If you gave up gardening for ten or twelve years, and then began again, you would find that there were new varieties of some of your old favourites, and that the sorts you used to grow were not admired now. The most popular and well-known flowers all have such a history. Your grandmother would remember when every Dahlia in the garden was as stiff as the modern little Pom-poms, but much bigger. Then, about twenty-five years ago, the single Dahlias ousted the stiff ones, and now we all grow Cactus Dahlias, with long pointed, twisted petals. So with Sweet-peas. Fifty years ago no one wanted anything but a mixed clump, some of which would be mauve or purple, some marbled, and some pink. Now it is usual to grow each colour by itself, and every year we seem to get better colours and bigger flowers. The fanciers of the ‘Sweet-pea world’ have taken Sweet-peas in hand, and by careful cultivation and selection have given us many new and beautiful varieties. At first novelties are dear, because the stock of seed is small, but for a few pence you can have a hedge that would have rejoiced Keats; and if you are a wise child, you will certainly grow those that have become plentiful. We will give you the names of some varieties that we like best, but you will easily understand from the little we have told you that some years hence our list will probably look old-fashioned. Even to-day anyone you happen to know in the ‘Sweet-pea world’ might make a different choice. The names we give you are the names of the Sweet-peas we like and have grown with success.

Sweet-peas grow very tall if they are healthy and properly staked, so they should be sown all along the back of your border to make a hedge. If you buy a packet of some expensive variety that gives you only a few seeds, you might sow those separately in a circle.

The best month for sowing is March, and you must dig your trench six inches deep and three inches wide. If there are many mice about who would eat your seeds, it is a good plan to soak them in paraffin a few minutes before sowing. Gardeners often damp them and shake them in powdered red lead, but as this is poison it must be used with care. It is not always effectual, either. We once saw a mouse caught ‘red-handed,’ his little paws coated with the lead we had put on our seed to protect it from him. When your trench is ready, sow your seed singly all along the row, leaving two inches between each seed. If your two borders are each seven feet long, you would sow forty-two seeds on either side, so you see that you can only grow a few kinds in one summer. When you have sown them, do not cover them with all the soil you have dug out. They should only have three inches on them at first, because the seedling wants to find its way up to the spring sun. Later on, when it is a strong plant, and supported by a twig, you can put back the rest of the soil. Sweet-peas are very thirsty plants, and when the long dry days come they like to have their roots deep down in the moist earth.

Their two great enemies are slugs and sparrows. In or near a town where sparrows swarm, you cannot grow Sweet-peas at all unless you protect the young shoots when they first show above the ground—about three weeks, that is, after the seed is sown. Later, when the leaves expand, the birds leave the plants alone. You can buy either ready-made pea-guards or a length of wire-netting, which should be doubled in the middle and put over your row like a long tent, with sticks at either end to keep it firm. If you cannot have wire put a double line of sticks at intervals along your row, and wind black cotton across and across from one stick to the other. This terrifies the sparrows, and they will not go near it. If you have many slugs, you should keep the ground near the seeds sprinkled with soot or lime. As soon as the plants are three inches high, they should be thinned to six inches apart, and should have a row of small twigs stuck all along the line for their tendrils to seize. When they are a foot high, you can earth them up with the soil left on one side of the trench, but you must put it evenly on either side of your Peas. When they reach the top of the little twigs, the tall ones must be put in firmly on either side of the row, and by the middle or end of June your Peas should be in flower. If you want your plants to last in flower all the summer and well into the autumn, you must not let them form a single seed-pod. Every day you should cut both your fresh flowers and any withered ones you see. In dry, hot weather they should be well watered at the roots from a can without a rose. Give each plant a soak of water at the roots, and do not trouble about the leaves. We emphasize this advice because Sweet-peas after they are six inches high suffer easily from drought, and we know that many children think they have given a plant a drink if they spray its upper leaves with a fine rose. You might as well give a thirsty baby a drink by splashing its face.

To grow Sweet-peas in a clump, take out the earth from a circular patch that you can mark with a garden sieve or a big flower-pot. Sow from eight to a dozen seeds, and thin to four plants when you feel safe from slugs and sparrows. Treat them just as you do those grown in a hedge, but when you put in your tall stakes make them all slant a little towards the centre, so that they meet at the top. The Hazel branches that you get easily in many neighbourhoods are best for Sweet-peas. Where these are scarce, you must use what you can find. The wire hurdles recommended for garden Peas where stakes are scarce would answer, but they are expensive and ugly. If your garden is not airy and sunny, it is a waste of time and money to try Sweet-peas. They are impatient of shade, of starved soil, or of a crowded garden. If they come up at all in such conditions, they will never do well, and will most probably be devoured by green fly.

Mignonette.

You are sure to want some Mignonette in your garden, because it is so fragrant; but in choosing a place for it you must remember that it will not make a splash of gay colour in the border. It grows from ten to twelve inches high; but, as you do not tie it up, it should be sown in front of plants whose stalks are not really longer, but which require a stake. It likes a good loam, but it will grow in almost any soil if it gets enough sun. Do not give it fresh manure, or it will run to leaf. It is one of the few annuals that should be sown in firm, hard ground. We do not mean ground that is hard because it is poor and neglected, but well dug soil that you tread or press down to make it ready for your seed. When you have done this, you sprinkle the seed thinly, cover it with half an inch of fine earth, and pat that down firmly with your hands or your trowel. You should choose a fine April day for your first sowing, and you should reserve a little seed for a second sowing in case the first is a failure. This sometimes happens even when your seed comes from a good firm and you sow it properly. It is a great mistake to buy poor Mignonette seed, as often none of it comes up. In ten days or a fortnight a soft spring rain will bring up the little plants, and then, if you have sown too thickly, you will find out how troublesome it is to thin them; but you will not have fine Mignonette unless you do this ruthlessly. Crowded plants will give you stunted flowers. The best way is to fix your eye on a seedling that is outgrowing its brothers, and remove all that are near it, taking great care not to disturb or loosen the one you wish to keep. You should watch your Mignonette and thin it out several times, so that each plant has room to breathe and grow. Six inches at least should in the end be left between the plants, and then you will only have left half the distance recommended by many good gardeners. So you see what a tiny pinch of seed would give you all the plants you need. Mignonette must be sown where it is to bloom, as it has a tap-root, and will not stand transplanting.