I am intending to plant some very early potatoes - Swift - in big pots to save room in my garden. I bought the last 2 big pots today & now realise I have a spare one. Any ideas what I could plant in it? I had considered some early peas. Do you think that would work? Any suggestions for anything early and edible please.
Peas would work up a wigwam.
Slightly too early yet -probably- but I grow Partenon Cougettes in the greenhouse -they're self fertile & very early (for squash). Glad I wrote that -they can go in with the toms when the propagator is freed up.
Quick crop of indoor carrots? Lettuce?
Jeremy
I bought six new big pots from Wilko's yesterday - and 2 are earmarked for early peas - did really well for a friend last year :)
Pea shoots!
a) cover the surface with peas, so they touch, and cover again with about 1 inch of compost
b) water and wait about 10 days for nice leafy shoots to grow
c) snip off the shoots above the first leaf joint, and enjoy pea tasting salad mmm
d) enjoy the next crop in about five more days
This is even nicer if you go to Sainsbury's and price up their pea shoots which are £££s ;D ;D ;D
Brilliant idea, Supersprout, many thanks - I shall go & do it now!
Must try!
Here are some pea shoots getting ready for second harvest, yum. Then everything goes into the compost, including (hopefully) roots bursting with nitrogen. Yum yum!
(http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4600/dscn08370ch.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Thanks for the amazing pic - since seeing that, I'm going to get some going today - how long from sowing to plate?
Glad you like the look of the pea shoots. From sowing, about ten days, if you can wait that long! Then another five or so days for the second crop to come. For snipping off the pea shoots, I sit at a table with the wireless on, very soooothing :)
BTW I once stir-fried my pea shoots but a whole tray reduced to about 1 tbs, so now I only eat them raw!
......and especial thanks for the non-stir fry tip ;D ;D
I'm certainly going to buy the cheapest packet of pea seeds I can find today & start them off, specially for these. I've seen the Sainsbury's packs, too - extortionate :o
Thanks again,
Lishka
In Downham Market peas are £1.50 for a pint mug from a bucket at the garden store. I make sure it has a good head on it ;)
Aha, so pea shoots are tasty.. Presumable the same goes for sugar-snap/mangetout/etc peas?
What about beans? I'm always wary of eating leguminous plants/beans raw as some beans need cooking before they're not poisonous..
Melanie
Yes, any type of pea is fair game for shoots fluffy ;D but I do try to find the cheapest seed I can, because you use a goodish amount sown thickly. Strange you just said about bean shoots, I am just about to snip off me spare baby broadie tops :o :o to add to the salad this pm, yum.
Munch away on bean shoots, they will do nowt but good, raw or cooked. I've also eaten runner/French bean shoots when short of greens early in the year (never tried sweet pea shoots though ;D).
There's been some recent debate on beans (i.e. part/fully developed in pods) and toxins in http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,15693.msg162559#msg162559
Ooo sounds very tasty in salads - will have to give this a try. :D
Would you recommend any particular variety for the best flavour in salads?
Well, the ones I grow for pea shoots are exactly the same as the ones I grow for pod peas - Kelvedon Glory and Hurst Greenshaft - and they are both lovely. Broadie sprouts from The Sutton and Claudia Aquadulce so far. Nice idea to have a 'sprout tasting' in the summer :P ;D
it's always good to have more variety in a salad ;)
help........................... ???
just read all your messages about pea shoots, what are they and where do i buy these pea seeds? Never heard of em, or seen em before. They look very easy to grow. So i take it, you just plant them and they grow and you just keep snipping off shoots and eat them? Do they keep growing like lettuce/ greens?
::)
CF
You got it in one cardinalflower, put ordinary pea seed thickly into compost in your pot or seed tray, cover with compost (about 1/2 inch) and watch them grow. Snip off when ready and eat! I snip a whole tray for salad for three, then let it grow one more time. I guess you could let it come again, but it's the law of diminishing returns - I get two good crops, then all goes on the compost or in the runner bean trench. The only problem is where to get loads of cheap pea seeds!
The pic below shows a second crop ready for snipping ;D
(http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/6205/dscn08391ah.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
I have an old packet of pea seeds in the shed, this seems an excellent way to use them up ...
good idea curry, rather than let the meeces have them ;D let me know if you enjoyed them ;)
............any ideas where to buy cheap pea seeds please ::)
CF
Quote from: supersprout on February 20, 2006, 11:10:35
In Downham Market peas are £1.50 for a pint mug from a bucket at the garden store. I make sure it has a good head on it ;)
They are
much cheaper loose. The garden store in DM is used by farmers, if you have anything similar near you. My old allotment association used to sell peas by the bucket too. Otherwise it's the 2 for 1 offers at the end of the year in the garden centres :( or kindly lottie neighbours? ;D