Topic: Best way to start my peas

[JJ]

Got all my tomatoes and chillies all potted up in 6'' pots ,but I'm struggling with the peas
Can someone tell me the best way to start them
  Many thanks jj

[gavinjconway]

In the ground... dig a trench 6" wide x 2" deep. Throw in your seed at 12 per foot spread evenly, cover, water well and they will be up in about 10 days. Cover with netting for the birds for a few weeks.

It saves all the trouble of modules and re-planting. Keep things simple..

[chriscross1966]

I find the easy way is to start them off in bedding strips on a window sill or in the GH if it doesn't get too hot.... each strip represents a foot of row.... still needs something to keep the pigeons off, but as you're planting out 6" plants it saves you from the vagaries of outdoor germination....

[ancellsfarmer]

I'd be with Gavin but my plot is overpopulated with long tailed field mice who can dig them up at a rate of a row per night! red lead is hard to find, paraffin is not within my definition of organic and the neighbours cat is over-pampurred (sic) and generally discouraged. How do you attract owls?

[squeezyjohn]

I made a garlic and chilli tea and poured it directly on the pea seeds then covered them with soil and gave another dose on the surface of the row.

If those mice can smell the peas through the garlic - they'd better enjoy a vindaloo!

Serve them right.

[davyw1]

Without a doubt the best Way to start your peas off is in guttering. You can put the guttering virtually antwhere so mice etc cant get at them. When you put one length out refill it so you are growing continuous.
When you put them out just gice the guttering a good water and they slide out

[Digeroo]

I chit mine in kitchen roll on northfacing windowsill.  Then I put them outside under bottle cloches. I put cloches well down into the soil to stop them blowing off.   We have loads of voles who are particularly keen on peas.

 

 

[goodlife]

I don't have any chance of getting peas if I were to sow direct (tried so many times and now stopped waisting my seeds) and actually find module sowing very little trouble.
I use 6 cell trays and put 5 or 6 peas per cell. Usually get near 100% germination ..then plant them out (not big job) and off they go! I do have to net them against my flying friends and keep checking the nets every day for any possible entry holes or my plants turn into 'salad bar'.

[manicscousers]

Gutters for the early short variety and milk cartons for the biggies 

[Nomspatch]

I soak mine overnight to rehydrate them, and usually use the guttering method...3ft strips are handleable...but this time round have put them straight in the ground to see what happens under the cloches..what the heck, if you don't experiment you'll never know eh!

[davyw1]

Another easy method is to prepare your ground /bed and put your peas in and cover with soil. Place pollythene over the top and weight it down to keep the pest out. The clear pollythene keeps the soil moist so you only have to check on them every few days to see if they have germinated.

[artichoke]

I am a great believer in guttering, and have a good stretch of peas planted out already and growing away strongly, but yesteray I watched a friend putting hers out and decided her method was even better. She simply lined a large cardboard box with lots of newspaper and filled it thickly with compost and pea seeds. She had lifted the newspaper and compost out of the box and was grabbing great handfuls of healthy green plants to set out in a thick double row across her plot. It made my guttering look rather small scale and finicky. My next wave of peas is definitely going to be done this way, starting in the back garden (protected against birds).

I find sowing direct is always very disappointing.

[brown thumb]

 I  did mine like gavinjconway their up about 3" and very healthy ,no problems with mice at the moment.

[willsy]

Nailed guttering to post on lottie, filled with compost and then peas...watered then covered them with cling film. Job done.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I start mine in pots, but I grow a lot of different varieties, and plant each one round its own wigwam.

[Plot22]

On my allotment site we have a great of trouble with mice eating peas. For the last couple of seasons I have soaked the peas in tepid water for an hour prior to chitting. I let the peas chit until the roots are about 3/4" to 1" in length and then set in a 6" wide trench. This system has worked favourably for myself and has now been adopted by other members on our site with a great deal of success. The mice just do not bother the peas when they have started to shoot. This morning I have set a full row of Kelvedon Wonder peas whch have been chitting for almost 2 weeks in a dark cupboard in my office at home

[tomatoada]

I am a great believer in guttering, and have a good stretch of peas planted out already and growing away strongly, but yesteray I watched a friend putting hers out and decided her method was even better. She simply lined a large cardboard box with lots of newspaper and filled it thickly with compost and pea seeds. She had lifted the newspaper and compost out of the box and was grabbing great handfuls of healthy green plants to set out in a thick double row across her plot. It made my guttering look rather small scale and finicky. My next wave of peas is definitely going to be done this way, starting in the back garden (protected against birds).

I find sowing direct is always very disappointing.

More info please.  Box  how thick, wide etc.?     Newspaper how many layers?  I might try this at w/e.

[gavinjconway]

I did an article here on starting peas in the greenhouse..

http://www.seedparade.co.uk/news/sowing/starting-peas-off-in-the-greenhouse/

[artichoke]

I'm not sure the details you ask about matter very much. I have just filled a large shoe box (big, for boots, lined thickly with newspaper) with mixture of compost and garden soil, watered it, arranged chitted peas quite thickly over the top, added more compost and watered it, and am leaving in shady corner on currently rather hot allotment. I'm about to wrap up in netting and/or fleece against rabbits and birds. Took minutes compared to my usual careful arrangements in guttering.

My friend's box was bigger than mine, and because she started it off a month or more ago when it was very cold and windy, she would have kept it under shelter. Her and my newspaper was perhaps 10 or more layers thick, and she lifted hers out of the box on it before scooping up her handfuls of pea plants fairly ruthlessly. Of course we don't yet know how they are all going to turn out. Sorry not to be more precise.......

[manicscousers]

Just started the second lot of tall peas in 1 ltr milk cartons. The first lot are up, much easier than root trainers