Evening all.
May seem a daft question to some but I need some help please as my books seem to be contradicting each other.
I want to no if it is too early to plant my Peas into pots on the windowsill??
The type of Pea.....Hurst Green Shaft (2nd Early)
Thanks again,
Graham
Good question Graham,
I'll watch for the replies with interest as I've bought some peas to plant (having never grown ANYTHING before). Mine will be going into pots on the patio though.
My pea seed packet says to plant straight out in February. Should I be planting indoors?
I'll watch with interest,
Jo.
I was going to start them off in modules outside this week and transplant where there big enough.
Going to start mine off on the 4th as the moon is in the correct quarter for PEAS!!!!
is it an idea to soak peas or not? regards gg x xx
Get used to the books contradicting, which ones are they by the way HTFC. :-\ ??? ;D
we've just planted some peas in a piece of guttering in the poly, when they're big enough, they'll go out under a cloche ;D
Thank you all very much for your replies.
Cornykev: the books are= THE COMPLETE VEGETABLE GARDENER by Fern Marshall-Bradley and Jane Courtier £20 from WHSmiths, and THE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDENERS HANDBOOK by Marshall Cavendish which my Father in law gave me. both very good thick books loads of info and pictures.
Cheers again....Graham ;D
Will planting peas early avoid pea weevil? Also, will covering the peas with fleece do the job, as I dont know if they are flies or something else, and would the peas need exposure to insects to get pollinated to set fruit? ???
cj :)
from what I can remember, to avoid the dreaded pea grub, plant early or later, we cover them with a cloche and uncover while we're at the plot for pollination, the cloche will stop the pigeons eating them , hopefully ;D
was told down the lotty at the weekend to soak pea seeds overnight in parrafin or tcp to avoid mice nicking them... but was too late as i already sowed . grrr
I've given up growing peas :o - over-rated, space consuming and under-cropping IMO >:(
pea shoots instead!
How many do i plant to start off with..? if they are to be grown sucessionally?? have a 7m row to fill?? no cloche at the mo but a small cold frame. I have Kelvedon wonder (Early).
This is my way including pictures; http://tinyurl.com/2t6yvb
I started to do it this way and at this time to save me all the hassle of paraffin,soaking & mice etc.
I find it fits in with the bug season and they are ready around the same time as what the books say.
supersprout what variatys had you grown?
Kelvedon something, telephone, guardsman, and yellow and purple mangetout :'(
They did fine, just not enough crop for the area and tending required. Bring on the cardoons! ;D
haha
kelvedon wonder is something i am trying this year for the first time.
Agree with you about mangetout as i tend to pick them a little late and there a little tough but sadad has given me some yellow mangetout to try and encourage me to try again.
But i got plenty of them and beans last year so i though peas would be ok...
Planting them between spuds so if nothing else there a wind break...
Have to disagree with you Supersprout about peas being overrated, nothing tastes better than a freshly picked pea. I grew a variety calledMisty last year and harvested 84lbs off a 50 ft row and thought that was very good value seeing that they were something like 80 pence per lb in the shops.
Peas really do need damp, but not waterlogged soil SS so I'm not surprised if they disappointed last year... We grow round (Hardy) starchy peas like Purple podded and Freu Heinrich (?) and wrinkled like Magnum Bonum, Ne Plus Ultra, Telegraph and Alderman. As well as Mangetout!
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/purplepeas.jpg)
and even if they get dry and stop at 4' they look pretty!
here is a pic of my peas grown last year.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/richardkinson/4df7e507.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/richardkinson/a771c4e5.jpg)
Chuffin hell, theres tones!!!
So am i alright planting em within neext week then?
When do I plant em outside,Bare in mind the peas are 2nd earlys if that makes a difference.
Graham
Hey Richard,
thats a good way of supporting the peas. I have tried both twigs and netting , but neither was very good. I will try your method ;D
cj :)
I grew Kelvdon Wonder last year and was very pleased with them. Fresh new peas are divine (and barely need cooking) and I'll certainly be planting far, far more this year.
I soaked the peas until they started to sprout a little, then planted them into compost in a tray until they were poking out and looking more like pea plants before planting them out in their bed.
There were a few grubs lurking in the pods, but I'm not too bothered about that. If last year's harvest was decimated because of them I'd start looking into protection methods; until then, I'm happy to just pick them out and munch on the undamaged peas!
I'll be sowing a row in approximately a fortnight, the logic being that we're doubtless not out of winter yet and I don't want to have them started to grow only to be met with a cold snap. As I can't get to the plot during the winter week (pitch black etc) they won't get any protection until the weekend. Your timings may be more flexible so a quick trip to site during daylight hours would be profitable. At then end of the day, I'd just chuck a few in and see what happens, it's only a few peas and if they work: fantastic, if they don't: note down what went wrong and use the info to improve your learning curve. ;D ;D ;D Let us know how you get on. ;D
Cheers ,I will. ;)
graham
I shall be sowing some as soon as the ground is workable and will be putting some fleece over them.
Hurst Green Shaft is a real winner,one I come back to after trying others(Alderman is another) but wait at least six weeks yet.
Thanks cleo will do, am glad you told me that this type of Pea is good,I just thought they sounded good on the back of the packet ;)
I'm trying 'Hurst greenshaft' this year and 'show perfection'. Last year I tried the purple podded, they were OK but a bit bitter, looked amazing though. Meteor were a disaster Alderman were quite nice till I tried my neighbours Hurst Greenshaft and was blown away by pea size and sweetness.
half of my peas didn't germinate as they were stolen by the blummin mice/vole families and then the surviving half were pecked by pigeons !!!! the few peas that managed to survive were lovely until they were invaded by horrid grubs :'(
But I've toughened up this year and will take no prisoners !
Rk - very inspiring.
I love sugar peas, and sowed some outside in the autumn. I wish I'd sown more, as the little plants don't look bad at all, and will have a good root system for getting away when things warm up. I have read that if you germinate the peas first (airing cupboard for 2/3 days) mice etc don't like them. This seems to work, especially with broad beans (my neighbours have neat rows of little holes).
A good point about sugar peas is that if you don't keep up with picking them, the peas swell and you can pod them like ordinary peas.
The paraffin soaking thing really worked for me.