Well, spring has sprung and summer is approaching. At least, this applies to most folks living in the northern hemisphere countries, while most in the southern hemisphere are starting to experience the cold weather. For northerners, who are keen gardeners, this is the busy time of year. We will discuss one of the most popular choices of spring flowers, the Sweetpea, in this article.

The Sweetpea (Lathyrus Odoratus) with it’s beautiful colors, lovely fragrance and long lasting blooms, is a very popular choice of flower. An added attraction, is that the flowers last quite a while, when placed in a vase of water.

Sweetpeas are easy to grow, especially if they have good soil preparation and full sun. They will continue to flower for months. There are climbing and bush varieties and even a dwarf variety, which does best in containers. This makes them an ideal choice for the small garden, or for window boxes. Sweetpeas have become one of flower lovers’ favorites.

A Sweetpea plant can be grown from seed, from May to July, for winter flowering, or around September to November for spring flowering.

The soil in the bed, should be mixed in with old compost, or manure, to a depth of about 50 cm and a then add a sprinkling of lime. Carefully put the seed in place and cover over with soil. Keep the soil moist, during the germination period. As the plant reaches a height of about 18 cm, nip the tops off, to about 10 cm in height, as this will encourage strong basal shoots.

The climbing varieties of Sweetpea, will need to be supported by stakes, or a trellis, or fence. Water them once a week and apply a liquid fertilizer, every 10 days, when in bloom. One of the climbing varieties is the Bijou, with mixed colors, or one of the best bush varieties, is the Little Sweetheart, also of mixed colors and this one is ideal for borders and edges. They both flower in the early spring.

The Sweetpea originates from a little purple flower, grown in Sicily. It was introduced into England in 1699, but only became popular in the early 1900s. It was then taken to other parts of the world and other varieties and colors became available, from around 1944.

If you long to have a beautiful garden, whether that means flowers, or vegetables, indoors, or out, this book should be of real value to you. The book called The Gardener’s Handbook will give you lots more advice. This is the secret to having a beautiful garden. It is available here http://dersalsites.com/ghand/

Sally Robson is a South African Internet marketer, who together with her husband Derek, have a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by overcoming the many obstacles facing them. They have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. Sally has a passion for gardening. For more articles and advice on gardening topics, visit Sally at: http://www.dersalsites.com/sallysgardeningtips/ 

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