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I had some main crop pea seeds that were a couple of years old so put them in my seed sprouter to see if they were viable. Low and behold they all came up, so I potted them up. Then I realised that I had sprouted and potted them ALL up - all 50 seeds!! :o So much for sowing a few every fortnight!! :( Does this mean I will get half a hundred weight of peas for one week in summer? :'(

Probably, but they freeze well. Alternatively, if they're like mine, you'll get a small bagful all in a rush.

50 seeds doesn't seem a lot where peas are concerned - I'd go ahead and plant some more

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on April 03, 2007, 08:52:51
Alternatively, if they're like mine, you'll get a small bagful all in a rush.

yes that has been my experience both times i grew peas.  usually the mice/slugs have eaten them before they get to that stage though, so i dont bother with peas anymore  :-\. having said that when i did grow them they were  great fun, very perky little plants. am i the only one who thinks that plant types have distinct personalities?   :D

Hi Sarah. I've grown mine in pots and will plant out when they're a bit bigger. Hopefully that will give them a flying start. I didn't realise I needed to plant so many. I've probably under-planted everything then!! Oh well, you live and learn!
As for plant personalities, I find broad beans to be very determined and resolute, but the aubergines I'm trying to grow look very depressed, even suicidal! :( :)

All my veg is indecisive at present apart from the raspberries which are peevish

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 08:36:19
I had some main crop pea seeds that were a couple of years old so put them in my seed sprouter to see if they were viable. Low and behold they all came up, so I potted them up. Then I realised that I had sprouted and potted them ALL up - all 50 seeds!! :o So much for sowing a few every fortnight!! :( Does this mean I will get half a hundred weight of peas for one week in summer? :'(

I agree with previous replies. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt - with all my veg the first year of allontmenteering.
Once bitten twice shy and all that... ::) ::) ::)

Hmmm... but will 6 psb plants be too few ? Should I give up doing the DT, Science and RE  planning for next term and go sow some more? :-\ ;) ;D
I suppose I could always give any excess away, but I can't do a thing about it if I don't grow enough.
By the way, will 2 plants each of yellow and green courgette varieties going to be enough someone? :-\ :-\

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 10:01:31
Hmmm... but will 6 psb plants be too few ? Should I give up doing the DT, Science and RE  planning for next term and go sow some more? :-\ ;) ;D
I suppose I could always give any excess away, but I can't do a thing about it if I don't grow enough.
By the way, will 2 plants each of yellow and green courgette varieties going to be enough someone? :-\ :-\

Getting the quantities right is one of the hard things. It all depends on how much ground you have and how much you eat.

PSB is possibly the only crop cropping in March so grow plenty but you may soon get bored - I grow about 10 plants.
Corgettes will grow in tubs and in the compost heap as well as in the ground so dont be afraid of planting too many. I grow about 8. This gives me the right amount at the start of the season but way too many later on. Im putting 2 in the greenhouse this year and sowing 2 later to try and extend the season.

Re peas - I must plant 1000's one packet I have says plant 20 to a foot which seems a bit excessive but eats into the 50 quite quickly - in my opinion yu can never have enough peas (except when your shelling them -= hurray for mangetout)

G

Thanks for that, I think I will sow some more psb. As for the peas, they're from the seed heritage library, a variety called purple podded, and that was all I had, so they'll have to do for this year. :(
Regarding the courgettes, I'm also growing spaghetti squash, so I don't want too many. (Plus my daughter hates courgettes - I keep telling her homegrown ones taste completely different - bad Mum!!) I was going to try them in a three sisters bed like Carol Klein did, with Trail of Tears FCB and Indian Summer sweetcorn(which is sprouting away as I write!).
With hindsight I should have written every planting down so I would know how many more/less to sow next year.  ::) ::)

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 09:19:27
the aubergines I'm trying to grow look very depressed, even suicidal! :( :)

ha ha youare so right about aubergines! peas are like little puppy dogs all playful and skittish when you water them.

i think 6 psb would be enough thats how many i plant for a family of four but it doesnt hurt to have spares. i grew four corgettes last year and that was enough for us not toooo much of a glut.  as you say it is better to have to much than not enough. if all fifty of your pea plants survive then you will have a good crop. remember to keep them well watered while they are fattenng up their pods.

Thanks Sarah I will water them well - hopefully with water from the water butt at the side of my new shed. Sadly the roof is only 2' x 3' so not expecting gallons!! maybe if I had got it in Autumn but for this year I may well be traipsing back and forth from the tap with my watering can!! Shame it's so far from my plot!!::) ;D
If I ever learn how to post pics I will show some of the plot as it was in its infancy, and what it looks like now.

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 10:01:31
Hmmm... but will 6 psb plants be too few ? Should I give up doing the DT, Science and RE  planning for next term and go sow some more? :-\ ;) ;D
I suppose I could always give any excess away, but I can't do a thing about it if I don't grow enough.
By the way, will 2 plants each of yellow and green courgette varieties going to be enough someone? :-\ :-\

Reckon you could base the whole lot round pea sowing!  Obvious science; DT designing/making/refining supports; RE 'reap as you shall sow', stony ground' etc - best get down to the lotty & do some more research. S*d the planning ;D

I couldn't agree more!! ;D ;D
Already tried getting the class down digging the plots as part of science 'Rocks and Soils' but the head didn't buy it!! ;) ;D ;D Have to say tho' the kids were dead keen!!!! ;D ;D ;D

It's all trial & error, and anyone who tells you that they've worked out exactly how many of each plant to grow to give them precisely the yield they want is probably pulling your leg. (Or is vastly experienced and should be heeded!) Most of us adjust quantities & sowing times from season to season.

As for peas: you can't have too many! You can always fill the freezer with them. I sow my maincrop in guttering, 50 in a double row 4 foot length; 3 or 4 lengths at a time; another batch 2 or 3 weeks later; and a third batch after that. Two years ago we had enough!

Courgettes: 2 plants are enough for some folk; others need 8. PSB, at least 6. Depends how many you're feeding and how much space you have. You can always give stuff away. And if all else fails, you are producing superior compost! (Don't do that with the peas, though, will you?

Yes, make notes. (Start now if you haven't already!!) You will change things next year.

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 11:37:02
I couldn't agree more!! ;D ;D
Already tried getting the class down digging the plots as part of science 'Rocks and Soils' but the head didn't buy it!! ;) ;D ;D Have to say tho' the kids were dead keen!!!! ;D ;D ;D

aha! my eight year son has just been doing about rocks and soil, he was very interested and i now know the difference twixt sedementary igneuous and ...er.......metamorphic rock.  love it when i am learning with them!

Personally I don't think 8 year olds should be sitting in classrooms filling in worksheets about rocks & soils - they should be out digging things up & really learning about their environment & the person at the QCA who wrote that horrid unit should be made to fill in rotten worksheets for perpetuity.  IMHO  :)

Quote from: sarah on April 03, 2007, 12:18:50

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 11:37:02
I couldn't agree more!! ;D ;D
Already tried getting the class down digging the plots as part of science 'Rocks and Soils' but the head didn't buy it!! ;) ;D ;D Have to say tho' the kids were dead keen!!!! ;D ;D ;D

aha! my eight year son has just been doing about rocks and soil, he was very interested and i now know the difference twixt sedementary igneuous and ...er.......metamorphic rock.  love it when i am learning with them!

Sherlock Holmes & Watson walking across a beach.
Watson : "I think these rocks are granite"
Holmes : "No, sedimentary my dear Watson"

Hahahaha...

we had 6 courgettes last year, 4 green bush and 4 x8 ball, toooo many, still stir frying and souping them   ;D

The trouble with courgettes is that one year you get loads and loads and loads... so the next year you don't grow so many, then half of them keel over and you don't get enough. Such is life.  As for aubergines- they certainly don't look like the happiest of little plants - the toms and chillies are really showing off -perhaps I should give them a Prozac feed!!!!!

My raspberries also looking peevish and a touch sulky. Leeks on the other hand have arms folded and will not budge through hell and high water. Blackberries cunning; tomatoes optimistic. Or am I taking this too far?

Sherlock Holmes & Watson walking across a beach.
Watson : "I think these rocks are granite"
Holmes : "No, sedimentary my dear Watson"

Hahahaha...
[/quote]

Are you perchance a geologist? Do you have a T-shirt with Geology Rocks on the front of it? That joke is the sort my geologist friend would come up with, and yes, he does have the T-shirt!! ;D ;D

Quotethe person at the QCA who wrote that horrid unit should be made to fill in rotten worksheets for perpetuity.  IMHO  

I couldn't agree more. It must take true skill and dedication to take a fascinating subject like that and suck the life out of it.   >:( ::)

Quote from: MacArthur Park on April 03, 2007, 22:53:17
Sherlock Holmes & Watson walking across a beach.
Watson : "I think these rocks are granite"
Holmes : "No, sedimentary my dear Watson"

Hahahaha...

Quote
Are you perchance a geologist? Do you have a T-shirt with Geology Rocks on the front of it? That joke is the sort my geologist friend would come up with, and yes, he does have the T-shirt!! ;D ;D

Worse, I studied Physics at Uni... although Geologists & Physicists are normally about as funny as each other. I have loads of great Physics jokes. You don't want to get me started. Really. Like the Atom that lost an electron - was he sure? He was positive.

The integral of a log cabin? A houseboat but you'll have to ask me if you want to know why and anyway it's not even funny when you find out. Oh, alright, it's because it's log cabin + c   (say "c" out loud).

Sorry for going er, slightly(!) off topic.

If you want a second chance sowing of Purple Podded, Mac Arthur Park, just pm me as I have been growing and saving them for a decade and still have a bout 300 to sow...
;D

What's purple-podded like? I got a few seeds out of curiosity. along with Ne Plus Ultra.

Love the peevish raspberries... Mine have gone from looking reproachful a few weeks back when I hacked them all down to two inches above ground. Now they're just looking purposeful -- belligerent shoots everywhere. :)

Wandering OT for a moment in reply to Ollie... ;)

Quote from: OllieC...I studied Physics at Uni... although Geologists & Physicists are normally about as funny as each other...

One to take back to the geologists, then --

Q: What's the difference between a geologist and a terrorist?

Purple podded is ok fresh, but not very sweet and quite mealy, best as a dried pea for cooking, you can eat the whole pod as exotic mangetout if caught small, Ne Plus Ultra is a great sweet pea possible only bettered by Magnum Bonum...
;D

Saddad, you are a star! I've pm'd you - thanks loads. :)
I've only eaten purple podded as mangetout as I could only grow about 6 plants in a pot before I got the lottie. I have to admit to not being able to remember the last time I ate peas that didn't come from Mr. Birdseye. :(

Ollie C you are clearly mad  ;) ;D ;D ;D- I like this site more and more!! ;D ;D

They are bagged up and in an envelope... will be in the post tomorrow...
;D

Even more thanks - I promise to sow them fortnightly!! ;D