Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 25 – Knowing Your Garden

The gardening cycle completes at Stage 25, returning to early April—time to sow sweet peas, study plant diseases and fungicides, and apply accumulated skills. Light workload allows personal projects.

Needs: 1 packet sweet pea seed. Time: 1 hour in 2 weeks.

Early April Weather/Soil

Air and soil warm and dry. Second gardening year: tackle missed projects.

Flower of the Fortnight: Sweet Peas

Sweet peas rank among the great garden flowers with roses, chrysanthemums, dahlias. Available in every color except pure yellow (breeders are working on it). Modern dwarf strains like 'Bijou' (30 cm) need minimal support; taller strains look lovely in circular clumps. Transplant outdoors late April into bulb beds or warm sunny borders.

Groundwork

Start annual lawn care: buy a wire lawn rake to remove leaves, moss, thatch, and aerate. Rake in two directions. Vary mowing patterns. Repair edges with turves (reversed) or edging strips. Seed bare patches. Begin feeding and continue through the season. Prick out sweet pea seedlings at 5 cm, space 25 cm, add supports.

Care for gift plants: keep azaleas and cyclamen moist in west windows, behind curtains at night. Repot outdoors May/June. Dry off poinsettias, cut back.

Project Work: Getting to Know Your Garden

Every garden differs—even identical plots vary due to neighbors' fences, hedges, trees (shade, water competition). Map hot/dry and cool/damp spots. Note wind tunnels through hedges/fences. Plant shade-lovers in shade, sun-lovers in sun. On slopes, gap hedges at the bottom to drain frost.

Build a cold frame from a second-hand window for a 2–3 week head start. Use cloches/tents similarly. Protect tender plants with bracken/straw/peat over winter. Start sweet peas now in soilless mix, peat pots/boxes, under glass. Use netting, stakes, branches for supports. Control slugs with pellets. Practice strict hygiene: remove and burn diseased material immediately. Never leave prunings/dead matter—compost or burn. Bacteria cause most damage; hygiene prevents problems. Use Bordeaux mixture (from garden center) against fungal diseases.