Sweet taste of SUCCESS
Demand for sweet peas soared thanks to the Mail – and the blooms continue to turn heads
THE name Janet Fraser might not be familiar today, but in the blistering hot summer of 1911, this housewife from the Scottish Borders was the talk of Britain. Her sudden fame wasn’t due to being involved in any scandal – it was all down to winning a competition to find the best bunch of sweet peas grown by an amateur gardener.
Launched by the Daily Mail early that year, the contest gripped the nation as a whopping £1,000 price (about £150,000 at today’s value) was being offered to the person who could grow the best blooms. As a result, demand for sweet pea seeds skyrocketed that spring, and more than 38,000 bunches eventually arrived to be judged at the Crystal Palace in London on July 28.
Among those swept up by sweet pea fever were Janet and husband Denholm, of Sprouston, near Kelso. Forty-eight hours before the judging event, two bunches were cut and posted separately, one in her name and the other in his. On the big day, Janet received a telegram to say she’d won (remarkably, Denholm came third) and the reporters soon arrived to find out the secrets of her success.
Spin forward 100 or so years and sweet peas rarely make the news – but you can certainly follow in the footsteps of Janet and Denholm, as now is the time to start them off from scratch in your garden.
Sow seeds of these annual climbers directly into the ground where they are to flower, or raise them in containers for planting out later, and you can look forward to masses of colourful single, semi-double or fully double blooms, from June until the first frosts of autumn.
The white, pink, red, purple, blue or two-tone flowers are famed for their sweet fragrance, which varies in strength from light to intense. A few have barely any scent at all, so pick varieties carefully.
Long considered an essential feature of British cottage gardens, sweet peas are actually native to southern Italy, Cyprus and the Aegean Islands. We’ve been growing them since the 17th Century, when a 6ft-tall species with purple and lilac flowers arrived from Sicily. Plant breeding took off, and by the turn of the 20th Century, hundreds of showy varieties were available. Today, close to 1,000 different sweet peas are offered for sale in Britain, ranging in height from 18in to 8ft. Among the most popular are the so-called ‘Spencer’ types (first developed at Princess Diana’s ancestral home of Althorp House in the 19th Century) with their large, frilly flowers noted for carrying their highly scented, big blooms on long stems.
Whatever varieties you pick, give their seeds some attention before sowing. The small pellets are protected by a hard shell that inhibits germination, so soak seeds in water overnight. Select those that are swollen and ditch any that have not taken up water. Once they are ready, set seeds a halfinch deep in the ground under some form of support, such as an obelisk, wigwam of canes or fence fitted with training wires. They’ll thrive in a sunny, sheltered spot with fertile, welldrained, moisture-retentive soil.
Another option is to start seeds off in Rootrainers, special hinged plastic seed trays that are folded together to form four deep holes for planting. Fill each cavity with John Innes Seed Compost, pop in a seed, water and put into a special holding frame to keep upright. Place in a cool, light, sheltered place.
Shoots should appear within two to three weeks. When seedlings are about 6in tall, pinch out growing tips to encourage side shoots to form for bushier plants. Young plants raised in containers can be planted out as soon as they have a strong root system.
Plants will develop tendrils that will wind their way around supports, but help them by tying in stems with twine every seven to ten days. Feed weekly with highpotash fertiliser once flower buds appear, and ensure plants churn out blooms for months on end by deadheading and picking stems regularly for display indoors.