peas, to cloche or not to cloche?

[archerellie3425]

Hi have just received my maro peas which state they can be sown outside March to May, if i plant them middle next week would you advice a cloche be used?
Thank you in advance

[zazen999]

Are you starting them in roottrainers/loo rool inners/pots or sowing them straight outdoors?

[archerellie3425]

Was going to sow them straight outside, first year growing so any advice on alternatives gratefully received, i have a plastic walk in greenhouse coming this weekend and still a few window cills spare. oh and plenty of saved toilet rolls

[lottyrep]

I've just started off my Kelvedon Wonder peas in 2ft lengths of guttering in the greenhouse, the idea being that when they are ready to plant out you can just slide the whole thing into a half moon shaped furrow without upsetting the roots.Gives a much better yield
Alan

[archerellie3425]

great, have just had a poke around the garden and found a 2 mtr length of guttering that i could cut in half, fantastic. moved in end of last summer and previous tenants had left a ready made 12m x 2 mtr veg patch just needed clearing out a bit, however loads of stuff left around garden that just seems to be fitting in with what i need.

[Flummery]

I don't think they need the cloche for protection from the elements. The birds and mice however, might have other ideas. I sometimes use a bit of chicken wire over new peas and such, till they get big enough to fight back! You have to take if off and give them their propper support in good time though, or they become hopelessly entangled.

[archerellie3425]

How do you support your peas, with individual sticks or wire rows, packet states spacing at 1" between peas, thought this was quite close.

[Flummery]

You can put them really close - the old boys used to drag a hoe along to make a shallow trench about an inch deep and 3 wide, and scatter the peas along the row quite thicky. I put mine in yoghurt pots or root-trainers (yog pots when I've run out of RTs!) and transplant to an inch or so apart. I do a double row with some thick plastic netting between them. You can get this about a metre wide and if you just thread garden canes through to support it in the ground you get a sort of tennis net between your rows which keeps the peas up. Check what your final height is though. Some of the older varieties can get up to 2 metres so you'll need a wigwam of canes for those.