Growing Peas

[Muscroj]

thought I'd start a new thread, to save taking over the sweetcorn thread even more than I already have

But did anyone see the way Hugh was planting peas the other night? He sowed LOADS really close together & I'm thinking this has been my failing, & only planted about 6 plants all spaced at quite a distance, thinking the plants do get quite big, but perhaps if I'd planted that many out then the slugs couldn't have decimated the few that I have.

So I'm going to go out & dig a trench today & chuck all my remaining ones in & see what happens!!

Also I loved the little "pea house" he built, what a great idea for any of us with small children!! My boys would love it, must think about where I can put one ready for next year

[Trace45]

I think one of the Gardeners World chaps sowed peas by the handful too.
Not in my garden as mice, slugs and hens decimate most things. More netting anyone?

The house idea of planting them looked great. A change from the willow idea. Good Luck.

[Rosendula]

I didn't get to see much of the programme but saw that he sowed them in a square with a 'doorway'. I've already sown loads in rows, but am thinking of sowing a row across the middle of them so that I have something like dead-end corridors

[becks77]

I got so cheesed off with nothing surviving for years ....pigeons, slugs etc I just chucked them in by the handful this year, after soaking in water, and they are stating to emerge quite happily, must hang some foil to deterr the birdies though.

[Annpan]

I started mine off 2 or 3 inches apart in mini-rows in half pop botttles (top and bottom cut off, then cut in half longways, like a very short piece of gutter) planted them out when they were around 4 inches tall and they are all doing great, still shorter than I would like but I have some mange tout flowering in the PT now so they will have to do until the main crop get here.

I have never had much success with direct planting with peas.

[red]

I start mine indoors cos they get eaten by birds and mice otherwise I used to so in modules and it works, but this year's new method is:

take a large seed tray, line with three sheets of newspaper, leaving some overhanging the shorter edges. fill with compost. sow 35 seeds (5x7) spaced out. repeat using up whole packet of seeds. water and grow on in greenhouse. when the plants are big enough harden off.

plant by digging a very shallow trench, lift the newspaper, compost seeds and all, by those handles of newspaper left hanging out, and plant the whole lot in the trench. repeat until you have a whole row of them. put in pea sticks for support. very easy

[Muscroj]

so does anyone soak the seeds first? My first lot of seeds I grew in the greenhouse & they all germinated, but I've had subsiquent attempts & they've all rotted, I'm wondering if it was too hot in there so I'm currently soaking some on my windowsill to see what happens to them, if they swell I'll chuck them in a trench outdoors, but some look like they're just disolving, so I think maybe they're past their best

[red]

no i dont. but they do rot if i over water. so i only watr them if the compost is dry on the surface

[Annpan]

I always soak mine but invariably leave them in water a little too long... still get good results though

[JulieSherris]

My pea bed is 2ft wide (half the width of a raised bed & then 16 ft long... so I have 4 rows of peas, planted straight in the bed & spaced about 6ins apart all the way along.... VERY close together, but all doing REALLY well & just about to start flowering

Last year, I did them in one row & spaced about 12 ins apart & quite struggled with them - then I read somewhere that if you 'crowd' them somewhat, the peas are happier... so hopefully, I have happy peas... and the other side of the same bed is filled to the brim with broad beans... all standing up nice & straight like good little soldiers - it's an impressive looking bed!

[Broad Bean]

I sow my early ones in drain pipes but at this type of year I just shove them straight in the soil in the relevant bed on the allotment, a couple of inches apart in 4' rows. On the whole they come through pretty well and I must be lucky not to have a mouse problem.

[Trinity]

I've never grown peas before so I thought I'd start this year with mange tout. After following some advice in a wonderful garden book I planted them 5cm apart in a long row and am growing them up a net.

I decided to soak them overnight first. This accelerated the germination process. Soaking them for atleast five hours (but no more than a day) seems to be a good thing.

I was tending to my beds just now and rather excitedly saw that there is already a whole load of mange tout on there. Don't know when that happened, they've only just come into flower.

[Muscroj]

Well I was begining to think that my seeds were duff or perhaps they'd got too hot in the greenhouse before planting as I'd not had a single one germinate since spring, so I soaked them all for a couple of hours & then left them in a clear pot with damp kitchen roll in the bottom on my kitchen windowsill. Sure enough within a few days they were all starting to sprout, so I made a shallow trench & chucked them all in, no spacing, just a handful in each row. Much more exciting than watching the top of a pot of soil to find out if they're going to do anything. So we shall see what happens, watch this space.

[Derry]

I've never grown peas before so I thought I'd start this year with mange tout. After following some advice in a wonderful garden book I planted them 5cm apart in a long row and am growing them up a net.

I decided to soak them overnight first. This accelerated the germination process. Soaking them for atleast five hours (but no more than a day) seems to be a good thing.

I was tending to my beds just now and rather excitedly saw that there is already a whole load of mange tout on there. Don't know when that happened, they've only just come into flower.

if you leave some pods on the plant, the peas will swell and youll get mange tout & peas from the same plant ^-^

[Trinity]

if you leave some pods on the plant, the peas will swell and youll get mange tout & peas from the same plant ^-^

Thank you I'll give it a go, although I must admit that my logic was 'grow mange tout to cut out the whole shelling thing'.

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