The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-15
HOW TO GROW SWEET PEAS
To Succeed With Choice Varieties They Must Be Planted Indoors at
Once-Miss Simmons Gives Directions for Sowing
TranspIaning and Care
ere are sweet peas on tiptoe for a flight,

Here are sweet peas on tptoe for flight,
With wings of gentle flush Ger delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things
To bind them all about with tiny rings.
Flower growing is most delightful work.
1t takes one into the fresh air and blessed
sunshine, among the lovely growing
things: il brings health and strength; and
it creates beauty and joy. Our grand
mothers, in the east, had their big, oeau-
tiful gardens filled with bloom from GRO
Gus lime until frost laid the asters low;
and they had to contend with few natural
obstacles in their work. We, in Mime
sofa, have to fight against King Climate
for our flowers, or they come late and
may be stricken down early. But we love
them all the more for their rarity.
No flower, that we can grow here at all,
is more apt to be a failure than the sweet
peas and yet by following the right meth
eds we may have as lovely ones, blooming
in as glorious abundance, as have our
eastern cousins. Let us this year bring
care and thought to the growing of our
sweet peas, and we shall find nature our
strong ally and friend in the work.
The best soil for sweet peas is a clayey
loan, the poorest, a sandy soil. They
should not be planted in the same place
two successive years. 1 know this plan
sometimes succeeds, but If that method is
followed, any year they are likely to fail.
1t is not safe. Neither can you make
the old location suitable by putting in
new earth, for the roots reach out several
feet on each side and it Is chiefly these
side roots that gather the plants nourish-
ment. Move your row each year a few
feet from where-it was the year before.
Sweet peas will not bloom well without an
abundance Of sunshine. They cannot be
a success except in location where the
sunshine falls all day long. The rows
should run north and south, for, if they
extend east and west, the north side of
the vines never gets the direct sunshine.
But If, in the home garden, the sunniest
spot accessible extends east and west
plant them so and put in only a single
row. They will not thrive planted close
and parallel to building and they should
not be near enough to trees, especially
elms, for the tree roots to rob the ground
OF moisture. In yard ideal conditions
cannot always be found, but 1 should GER
tainly not give up having sweet peas for
that reason. Mr.. Hutchins, who is an
authority on sweet peas, in his excellent
little book "Sweet Peas Up-toDate." sug-
gests digging trench bet ween the garden
and the trees and sinking half barrels,
with the bottoms laid lightly in, to their
tops in the earth to hold the sweet peas.
If you follow this method do not forget to
bore several large holes in the barrel bot
toms, for drainage.
Among the best varieties are Blanche
Burpie, pure white; Lottie Eckford, a
fragrant lavender; Prima Donna and
Katherine Tracy, exquisite light pink va
rieties; Mrs. -Eckford, a soft yellow shade;
Aurora, white striped with bright pink
of a somewhat salmon shade; Triumph, a
large blossomed pink and white; Blanche
Ferry, extra early, the old fashioned
pink and white; Prince of Wales, a beau
tiful glowing magenta; Sunproof Salopian,
a bright crimson, and Black knight, a
dark purple.
Sweet peas must always be planted
early. Late planting always results. in
few blossoms and a short season of bloom.
This is because cool weather is necessary
for vigorous root growth, the first essen
tial for luxuriant bloom. AS early in the
spring as the frost is out Of the ground
twelve inches deep and the ground is dry
enough to mark without sticking to the
marker, planting should begin. 1 have
my rows spaded twelve inches deep and
two feet wide, and the earth is turned
over, so that the rich soil is down where
the little roots, the workers, are. Then
four inches of soil is thrown out, forming
trench, which is necessary, that plenty
of water may be given the vines. In this
climate, sweet peas, except the old-fash-
Toned pink and white ones, do not blossom
we'll sown outside, but should be started
early in February and transplanted to the
open ground as early in the spring as the
ground is ready for them. The tempera-
ture OF the hot bed or room should be
from 40 to so degrees F., while they are
hardy, so that they can safely go through
greater drop in the mercury than can
tender plants. Do not try to start them
IN a warm room, only weak rooted plants
can be grown there. If you have no cool
place for them, it is better to grow only
the old-fashioned pink and white ones
which thrive as well sown outside
Blanche Ferry, extra early, Is the best
variety OF this color: Transplanting is
necessary in this climate, because we
have so little cool weather in the spring,
the hot weather following so soon, and
as have said, plants cannot grow strong
roots and be thrifty without cool wealth
er In the early stages of growth With
us seed sown outside produces heavy vines
but few blossoms and the season Of bloom
is then short, both Of which results NAV
be avoided by transplanting. :.
Transplanting, although usually result
Ing so disastrou1y with amateurs, Is very
easy, and any one can learn to do it we'll
plant my seed In boxes, four inches deep,
and the four-inch wide boards forming
their bottoms, have spaces a quarter of
an inch wide between them for drainage.
use moist earth, drop the seed half an
amen apart each way, (when closer it is
apt to decay, cover with half inche Of
soil and press it down firmly If water
Is given too often the seeds will decay,
50 water only when the soil becomes dry
yet you must not let the seeds dry. for
that will kill them. Later, when the seeds
have sprouted and the roots struck down
deep, you will be apt to give too little