Good afternoon, my reader. Sweet peas are an unpretentious herbaceous perennial, which can often be found in summer cottages as an element of landscape design. It belongs to the Chin genus of the legume family. During the flowering period, from June to late autumn, it pleases with a variety of shades and a wonderful delicate aroma.
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Features of sweet peas
Sweet peas are very popular with gardeners due to their ability to curl beautifully around a support. Therefore, it is often used to decorate fences, gazebos, verandas, walls of houses, which creates beauty and a feeling of comfort in the summer cottage. Although breeders have suggested a wide variety of new annual varieties, gardeners choose a perennial because of its many benefits:
- Doesn't require special care when growing.
- Cold-resistant, withstands frosts down to -5 degrees.
- Does not need annual planting and replanting.
- In areas with a temperate climate, it can grow in one place for up to 10 years.
Species diversity
Different types of thickets grow in the fields of Europe and Asia, the Mediterranean coast, on the slopes of the mountains of Africa and South America. Sweet peas have the following decorative types:
- The rank is broad-leaved or large-flowered. It grows up to 2-3 m, clings to supports with antennae. It blooms in odorless pink or bright burgundy inflorescences. It tolerates frosts down to -30 degrees.
- Forest rank. A rare species with medicinal properties, listed in the Red Book. The light and heat-loving plant is found mainly in the Caucasus.
- Spring comrade. It grows with an erect stem up to 60 cm high. Prefers shady places, blooms with raspberry-lilac flowers.
- The rank is tuberous. Inflorescences are dark red. Due to its rich fragrant aroma, it was used in the production of perfumery products.
- Chin Gmelin. The flowers are yellow, the leaves are large, pointed. Prefers to grow in coniferous forests. It is widely used in traditional medicine.
Growing from seeds
Before you start planting seeds, you need to prepare them:
- soak for 10-20 minutes in a warm solution of "Bud" (1-2 g per 1 liter of water);
- collect and discard the emerging seeds, place the seeds that have sunk to the bottom in a damp piece of tissue for germination.
It is better to use a store substrate for planting - for Saintpaulia or a rose. For disinfection, the substrate must be treated with a manganese solution. Any container is suitable: containers, pots or plastic cups. The container is filled with soil mixture, seeds are planted, deepening them by 1.5-2 cm, and then covered with glass or film to create comfortable conditions for germination - temperature and humidity.
After 8-10 days, the seeds begin to germinate. As soon as three true leaves appear, pinch off the top to accelerate the development of lateral shoots. Irrigate once a week.
When the seedlings reach a height of 5-10 cm, they are moved into open ground, and preferably together with an earthen lump.
Care after landing
With proper care, sweet peas will decorate the courtyard with pink, snow-white, raspberry or yellow inflorescences up to 50 cm long in the first year after planting. In order for the plant to bloom until late autumn, you need to provide it with timely and regular watering, trying to prevent the soil from drying out and excessive waterlogging. In dry weather, it is watered once a week, but quite abundantly: 1 sq. m - 30-35 liters of water. The soil is loosened, weeds are removed, but at the same time they do not allow exposing the root system, otherwise the plant will wither and die. For the entire growing season, the rank is fed three times:
- After planting the seedlings, they are watered with a solution: for 10 liters of water, take 1 tbsp. spoon of urea and nitrophosphate.
- At the beginning of flowering: 10 liters of water, 1 tbsp. spoon "Agricola" (for flowering plants) and potassium sulfate.
- In the midst of flowering: dilute 20 ml each of Agricola and Ross in a bucket of water and stir thoroughly. For 1 sq. m consume 3-4 liters of solution.
As they grow, the stalks of the sweet peas are carefully tied up. The plant does not require pruning, you just need to periodically remove dried flowers. This extends the flowering period (up to 6 months). In late autumn, the shoots are cut off at the very ground, the roots are covered with sawdust.
Do sweet peas grow in your country house?
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