What a Beauty (Sweet Pea)

Member Name: jaxm

Product:	Sweet Pea
Date:	21/01/04 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Seeds can be planted straight in the garden, Wonderfully scented, Beautiful colours

Disadvantages: Attacked by bugs, Need watering regularly, Need dead heading regularly

As a child, my father always grew Sweet Peas in the garden so it's not surprising that every April you'll now find me out in my garden on my hands and knees planting Sweet Pea seeds and securing my bamboo canes in readiness for a beautiful Summer show.

Sweet Peas require very little attention in the early days. You literally take the seeds and plant them where you want them to grow. The fun comes when they start to shoot - the slugs and snails delight in stripping the plants bare when my back's turned so I do tend to use slug pellets (animal friendly ones of course!). Once you've overcome that hurdle, provided the plants are watered well during dry spells, they'll soon be shooting up and winding themselves around the bamboo canes.

By early/mid Summer the plants will start to bud and, once again, the bugs bite! Greenfly just love them!! Again, I hit them with an organic bug spray but you really need to nip them in the bud (pardon the pun) and spray them as soon as you see the first sign as, if not, they'll invite all their little buddies (pardon the pun again!) along for a holiday.

But it's worth persevering with the early bugs because you'll be more than rewarded with the beautiful pastel shades and the wonderful perfume.

One final drawback - you really need to dead head on a regular basis to ensure a constant supply of flowers throughout the Summer.

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