When are peas ready?

[janeyo]

This may sound daft but I don't know when to pick the peas! They have some lovely pods on but if you hold them to the light the peas still look tiny. We go away on sat for a week and I am gutted as I suspect my mum (aka the watering saviour) will get to eat them all!

janeyo

[Alison]

If you're not sure then you could pop a pod and have a look - I quite like some of them small as I find them sweeter.

[fastlearner]

I agree with Alison, they're really at their best when smaller..

[Flummery]

But not too small! The pod should be swelled up - not like a mangetout with a few little nobbles at one side. Open one and see - but I suspect your Mum will be the winner here! Maybe she'll freeze you some. Don't forget though, that the more they are picked the more they will produce. Depending on how long you are away, she may prolong the season for you.

[PAULW]

JANEYO
Its a bit trial and error, the more you pick the better you will get at selecting the right pods, I find that the rounder pod is more likely to have decent sized peas as opposed to the heart shaped pod.

[janeyo]

mum to the rescue!

Well mum came over this avo and she was looking at the peas and reckoned ONE was ready - she said when they look like they are all puffed up and ready to pop. So we picked it (great excitement from the 3 yr old but even more so from me, lol) and the pod went POP and there were 9 lovely peas! Needless to say they were devoured there and then!
The rest are all still flat, so mum will prob get the benefit, but that's ok... she is my mum!

janeyo

[Flummery]

Good though, aren't they? I'm sure there will still be some when you get back.

[spiderpig]

I grew some kelvedon wonder last year,had one pod when tiny(and amazingly sweet) and decided to leave them to grow nice and big.When I harvested them a few weeks later they had lost their sweetness and needless to say I was gutted,I just composted them because I couldn't eat them.
This year,I have been growing the same variety and have eaten them all nice and small and sweet.The moral of the story;size isn't everything....flavour is!

[ski_tzo]

Do u pick the pods as well?

[Flummery]

You pick the pods with all peas ski tzo. With shelling peas you use the peas inside, but with mangetout and snap peas (it will tell you on the seed packet which they are) you cook and eat the pods as well as the tiny peas inside. In these cases, you pick them when they are flat. Otherwise you wait for them to fatten up and shell them .

[Shortie]

OOoooo good timing for this thread as I was wondering the same. We were down the allotment Monday after work when Mr Shortie goes 'ooooooooo look! Peas!!' But I've never grown them before so wasn't sure the best time to pick for the best flavour

Can you tell the allotment has started to get to him a *little* bit now? He's even going to look in the catalogues this year with me for some bits he'd like grown

[Flummery]

Maybe gardening's a virus? It's certainly catching and they haven't found a cure (thank heaven!)

[Shortie]

Flumm, hopefully he'll get a full blown, always there, strain of the virus then!!