Allotments 4 All

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.