Topic: Help needed with peas

[Jeannine]

I never seem to feel peas are worth the effort so have a few questions. I love home grown peas but never get the yeild I would like to get so thought about the tall ones....

Is Alderman the only very tall one, apart from the snap/snow/mangetout types?

Is the yeild good,and are there any pifalls( I know about the lack of disease resistance) ?

Can I keep on cropping them like I would with runner beans?

Are the tall plants as dense as runner beans?

Are they self supporting?

Is it worth using one of my permanent bean fences to grow them.

Any other ideas would be great.

Thank you XX Jeannine

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

we're trying Telephone or Telephon as a tall variety this year, to try to get a better yield, like you

Do the pea growers here prepare a special bed, like you're supposed to do with runners (but I stopped doing)?

[elsie]

Hi Jeannine, I'm growing Champion Of England this year, I believe this is supposed to be quite tall. Sorry, no tips, but will report back  :)

[Baccy Man]

Telephone (available from http://www.realseeds.co.uk/peas.html) is a tall variety which I usually grow, Magnum Bonum (available from http://www.irishseedsavers.ie) sounds like it is one of the best tall varieties around although I haven't grown it myself Saddad was extolling it's virtues a while ago.
Yield is good on these 2 varieties.
They are not self supporting mine climb up 6' tall wire mesh fencing.
Plants are very dense & the more you harvest the more they produce.

[Trevor_D]

I use wire mesh stapled to stout posts. They sometimes need a bit of help clinging at first, but I plant two a couple of feet apart, which helps the ones in the middle. They are not as prolific as beans, and don't go on for ever, so you need to sow in succession. I sow 3 gutters-ful (each 4 feet long) every few weeks.

My favourite is Gradus, now discontinued, but I save seed. It is supposed to grow to 4 feet, but is normally at least 5, often 6. And as an early, Tafila, which is self-supporting (although a few sticks do help).

And pigeons are a problem!

[jonny211]

One thing I've never got my head around is the spacing of the plants - say if I had two rows, one either side of some chicken wire or something so the rows would be 6" apart how closely could I plant the peas in the rows, would 2" be too dense for the plants to thrive?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'm trying Purple-Podded and Ne Plus Ultra from Robinson's this year; neither did anything for me last year, but I've just put that down to the weather. Thanks for reminding me about Magnum Bonum; that's another one i've been wanting to try.

Alderman is the only tall pea still in commercial production, but there were loads of tall varieties until around WW2, when they went out of fashion because tall peasticks became hard to obtain. If you look around small specialist suppliers, there's still a range of varieties out there.

When planting, I just scrape two deepish drills, a couple of feet apart, and scatter seeds an inch or so apart. If I put a row of cloches over them to keep the birds off and the seeds warm, they do fine. These rarer varieties can be started in pots, and be grown on wigwams; if I get a decent crop, I'll be able to save enough seed for rows next year.

ISSA has a good range of seeds there, but my one criticism is that they don't make it clear what a lot of the seeds are! For instance:

Black Beauty 
 
An Italian heirloom variety. Erect and compact plants. Grows with an open habit making for easy picking. The fruits are long and firm, dark green, smooth-skinned and cylindrical. 

Sounds great, but what's it a variety of?

[saddad]

Yep... Magnum Bonum is still my favourite...
PM me and I'll send you some to bulk up... and have a taste as well!
 ;D

[Jeannine]

Robert, you are  definately describing the courgette/zuchinni Black Beauty there!!

May I ask what you call a decent crop and in what size rows would you get that please.

Peas are just one of those veggies that I haver not worked out enough yet so I am really green on this one!!

I do have some purple podded, are they a tall one?

I also have Time out of Mind,Prews Special,Perfection and a couple of others I know about, but I am not sure which are high or bush..

Magnum sounds good and I will find some of the others to try, is there anywhere I can get the Gradus ones from please?

Thank you for the help so far guys, I have learned a lot from all of you.

XX Jeannine

[calendula]

the trouble with peas is that you need a large quantity of seeds to get a big harvest - I sow hundreds and hundreds (obviously we like peas) and I tend to spread it out with an early variety, maincrop and late and then t end to freeze a lot of them so as to bulk up the harvest

you need the room for this amount of peas so going the 'sky scraper' route is good if you lack space - the alternative is to sow an early variety such as 'misty' (big cropper) and then sow carrots when they are finished

Alderman is an old maincrop variety, easily 5ft tall and can be a heavy cropper as well, mainly because the pods are large but you will need supports - flavour is great, you need to pick peas whenever they are ready as this encourages more flowers and more peas, so even if you just pick a few you could freeze them and keep adding to them

the leaves are smaller so I would say they are not as dense as beans

I always start my peas off in trays and then transplant into shallow trenches quite close together - sowing in situ can be erratic and maincrop peas can be unreliable if the summer is either too hot or too wet - I believe the temperature can be quite crucial for pea germination

'show perfection' is another tall variety (king's seeds have this one)

[Baccy Man]

Gradus are available from http://www.thomasetty.co.uk/vegetables/index.html 300 seeds £1.45 or 2 packs £2.50

[Trevor_D]

Thanks for that, Baccy Man. I've got enough for this year, but I might do a "belt & braces" and buy a packet.

I sow mine in 4 foot guttering: block off both ends with gaffa tape, fill with compost, then sow a double row, peas 1 inch apart. (Sorry, don't do metric.) When you plant them, put the supports in first (2 feet apart), then dig out a trench, rip off one gaffa-taped end, then (fingers crossed), slide the contents into the trench, like you'd launch a boat. (Well, that's the theory - the practice is usually a bit messier & involves a bit of Anglo-Saxon!)

Never sow in situ, unless you have a guilty conscience about how little the mice on your allotment have to eat!

[sawfish]

I tend to grow loads of peas around the edges of my plot and get a massive harvest off Hurst Green Shaft, which grow to about 4 foot tall and taste divine! I must admit I didn't rate the purple podded ones as they were a bit mealy and Alderman just weren't quite as sweet. Early Onward were just plain useless, too short and with very few pods.

I just dig a shallow trench and put some dung or compost in it then plant the peas directly into the soil 6 to 8 inches apart after soaking them in paraffin for 5 minutes. I get about a 80-90% success rate on germination.

[Lady of the Land]

How do you stop peas rotting before they germinate, I have tried growing then at home in cells in both conservatory which has no heating and in the house but majority rot. I have been using premium in last couple of years. I have tried growing straight into ground but mice tend to eat thew majority even when soaked in parafin.

[sawfish]

maybe your overwatering them Lady of the Land

[Robert_Brenchley]

Don't plant till the soil warms up a bit. If you're planting them direct, cloches are good for keeping the flying rats off, as well as for warmth.

[Sinbad7]

I never used to grow peas as I thought they were too fiddly with the supports and having to cover them and the crop they yielded but last year I watched Christine on the tele and she sowed them directly into the soil and then covered the rows with 'holly'.  As I have a holly bush on my plot I thought I'd have a go.  I followed her instructions and hey presto had a fantastic crop last year so am planning the same for this year.  I grew Feltham First and found them a good cropper and they tasted alright too.

Sinbad

[kt.]

Type a search in Google for "Growing peas"
Lots of info here:

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_april_1_pea.asp