Peas query and asparagus worries...

[Warren R Sole]

i have peas in a window box on my patio and they are flowering despite being only 8" high, is this a problem?
i have two cast metal tubs with asparagus growing from sets. One is looking healthy although it has stopped growing but the other has lost all foliage and looks like it has given up the ghost. Can I do anything about it?

i have put three beer traps under my french beans but the snails won't touch it. Was it a mistake to use French beer, as the French are the natural predator of snails?

i also have cabbages and courgettes in a growbag. The courgettes are in full flower now, have I missed the time to harvest?

thanks you crazy diamonds
W.A.S.

[burnie]

Some peas are a shorter variety, if they are flowering you mustbe doing it right. Never grown Asparagus, but my understanding is it takes a few years before you get a harvest and they are a hungry plant and need feeding, I'm not sure if it canbe grown in a container to be honest. I think inviting lots of French people round could be a good deterrent for snails, never thought of that lol. My Courgettes are just flowering , so I'm sure there's plenty of the summer left to get a crop.

[Warren R Sole]

Thanks Burnie, iam getting good crops of lots of my crops, especially cabbages and shallots but i will have lots of cougettes as long as I can keep them watered in the heat.

i work with a Frenchman too so may have to offer him some summer work while school's out...

[nickdub]

I wouldn't try to grow peas as anything but a salad crop in a container of any kind unless I had no ground at all in which to put them. Peas love water and cool roots, so I guess some sort of hydroponic system might work for them but in English conditions I've found that getting peas growing when the ground is damp in early April, and they can grow really extensive roots systems is easiest. My Alderman peas grown outside like this are now in flower and all over 6' high. I have made a second sowing which are in pots for now for convenience and are just making their first leaves. As the ground in my garden has now had a good soaking from the rain, I'm planning on planting them out in the next few days. Then it's the luck of the draw with the weather - if its hot and dry they will need water, gallons of it, if it rains a lot they won't but whichever I don't expect to get as good plants or as big a crop as I will (rabbits willing) from my Spring sown peas.

[Warren R Sole]

Thanks Nickdub,
i have a tiny patio and no open ground whatsoever.

i am growing peas and beans in window boxes on bricks and cabbages and courgettes in a growbag.

I have made watering cans from 4 pint milk cans and mk I and mk II give very different sprays.

I am harvesting, or just harvested shallots, cabbages and 1 cougette and a host of radishes.

I have even tried parsnips in really deep half barrel pots but they are overcrouded and bolting without giving any crop.

learning as i go, i won't starve this year...

thanks for your help, it's really appreciated.
WAS

[Warren R Sole]

Does anyone know of chillies that would grow in our climate and could be planted in the next couple of weeks.

I haven't grown any yet but love 'em.

[nickdub]

No worries - in your situation just two things really you can do to get the peas growing as well as possible imo 1) make the containers as large and as deep as practical, say half a 60 gallon drum or a huge box planter made out of old pallets or similar 2) grow dwarf and/or early varieties as the top part of these plants are smaller, they don't need such a deep root run to develop their pods.

[Warren R Sole]

Thanks Nickdub

I bought the seeds under lockdown from poundstretcher!

I knew no better.

They grew really puickly to 4" but took an age to get to 6" which supports what you say.

I'm hoping they are dwarf but can't be sure.

My beans were bought and planted the same way and they are 4' tall and just starting to flower but the window box is solid roots and i had to rip roots to put my beer traps in.

I've done most things wrong but I'm getting a harvest.

[burnie]

Does anyone know of chillies that would grow in our climate and could be planted in the next couple of weeks.

I haven't grown any yet but love 'em.

Chillies are grown from seed very early in the year, you might find plants in the Garden Centres, but they need constant heat, I don't know of any that will grow outside in the UK, you could have a pot on a sunny windowsill inside.

[ameno]

Chillies are grown from seed very early in the year, you might find plants in the Garden Centres, but they need constant heat, I don't know of any that will grow outside in the UK, you could have a pot on a sunny windowsill inside.

Mild to medium varieties will grow outside just fine as long as you live in the South and give them a decent start.
I grew two Apache plants last year (accidentally; the plants I bought were mislabelled as sweet peppers) outside, planted through black plastic, and they gave 50-odd 3-4cm long chillies per plant, around half of which ripened.

[bramble]

Growing peppers outdoors a tricky one in our climate.
It really depends on the weather year on year.
No harm in trying and I have had some success and failures both.
Good luck, and remember, God loves a tryer.

[bikermike]

Gosh, good luck with the pots.

You can eat the tops of pea shoots as well. Have you looked at micro-greens (pretty much barely-sprouted stuff).

In general with a small space, I'd grow stuff you eat raw, and herbs as you get most bangs per buck. Tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, lettuce, spring onions, basil, rosemary, thyme, mint (always grow that in a pot), maybe a small bay tree at the back would be what I would do. Chillies would be best off on a sunny windowsill inside. Nasturtiums are edible flowers which would add a bit of decoration as well as edible.
Strawberries - a properly fresh strawberry straight off the plant will amaze you.

Asparagus is one of those plants, it either grows or it doesn't. For three long years before you can eat it. It's a good job it tastes divine...

Courgettes in a big tub? potatoes in bags? (again, salad pots not roasters as you won't get the benefit)

You could probably grow over-wintering garlic in a big tub (it does need a lot of water).

One thing to think about next year is that you'll need to refresh your growing medium, usually by adding more fresh compost. If you know any local gardeners, they might want your spent compost - better than taking it to the tip.

Also, I usually say get a compost heap - you'll struggle to do one in that space, but you could look at a wormery or a hotbox.

[peanut]

I've successfully grown all sorts in pots over the years and this year will be putting my extra Runner Beans, Climbing and Dwarf Beans and tall Sugarsnaps all in random bog standard garden plastic pots all in mpc with added manure.

Have fun experimenting and good luck with your crops

[Warren R Sole]

Thank you all. I did try chillies from seeds earlier in the year but they didn't germinate. Funny though, it was properly hot at the time.
i did try growing strawberries from crowns but they didn't get out of the starting gate.
one possible asparagus is starting to look like a result.
i think the climate here is better suited to rice or water chestnuts though.
i have had a range of success grades.
parsnips might have been a long shot!
oh and ginger; left it on a window sill untill it sprouted then potted it up and placed it under the arm of the bench so that it stays relatively dry but it isn't coming.
i might have to bring it in.
Not today though...

Thank you all again for your invaluable input.
WAS