Favourite peas

[kobzy_garden]

I've decided to do a trial of some pea varieties this year.

What are your favourites and why.. convince me to include these!

Please include sugarsnaps and mangetouts as I'd like to get a good variation. Also, when do you sow them?

Thanks!

[bario1]

I grow Deliket for sugar snaps, they’re nice, but I wish they cropped for a bit longer.

[Thelma Sanders]

I grow Hurst Greenshaft, about 3 - 4ft high, so no bending to pick them, beautifully sweet and usually 9 -10 peas to the pod, but all ready near enough at once.
That's why I also grow Alderman, a tall pea 5ft-6ft, it crops over a longer period if well fed and watered. Also a lovely taste if you pick them before they get starchy (fine as marrowfat peas if you pick them a bit later) 11 peas per pod.
I usually cover the soil with clear plastic to warm it up, and then sow in mid-March, leaving the plastic on until the peas are a couple of inches high. I find earlier sowings miss most of the pea moth damage.

[Penellype]

Hurst Green Shaft is my favourite. Lovely long pods with plenty of peas, good flavour and very reliable. I've tried several other varieties including Onward, Kelvedon Wonder, Douce Provence, Meteor and Terrain and none of them are as good. I sow 5 peas to a 3.5 inch square pot every 2 weeks or so from late March to mid May - 10 pots do about 1 metre of row. Plant out when about 4 inches tall.

I do sow Meteor as an early pea in February as it matures faster and Terrain in May for late peas as it has some resistance to mildew.

[veggiechicken]

I like Bijou mangetout 'cos they're BIG.

[kobzy_garden]

Ok, thanks! Hurst Green shaft seem to have popularity.. Charles Dowding also recommends these so I think I'll try and give them a go.. see what all the fuss is about But, Premier seeds direct dont currently have them in stock

At the moment I've added Alderman, Feltham 1st early, meteor (which one shall I go for as my earlies??) and Mange Touts Carouby De Muasanne as they look so pretty and I do like the idea of growing what is thought as the original French Mange Touts!


What I'd also like to know is roughly how many do you all sow?

[Thelma Sanders]

I was always told " sow 12 peas to a foot" (in a double row, 6 each side IYKWIM) and "if you're lucky, one foot will yield 1lb of peas" so you need to grow more than you think

[Guest]

Crown peas - pretty and ornamental, golden mangetout - tasty and pods are easily seen, greensage semi leafless so pods are easily seen, winterkefe an early producer, calibra a tasty petit pois variety, parsley an early novelty variety where you can eat the parsley shoot as well if caught young enough.

Daren't look in seed box there will be loads of others. What are you trialling for? What is the end use? i.e. dual purpose, fresh and sweet, fresh and starchy, storage..

Round peas can be sown early and late as they are hardier than wrinkled varieties.

[Small pumpkin]

Kelvedon wonder are my favourite peas to grow. Good producer and lovely flavour.
Oregon sugar pod are my favourite mangetout fantastic producer.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow tall Telephone peas they crop over a long period especially if you pick them every day and they don't take up much space, other than those i grow a few Purple podded pea using them as mange touts to add colour to stir fries as and salads.

[bario1]

Anyone know of a tall sugar snap?

[Thelma Sanders]

I've pmd you

[Penellype]

Anyone know of a tall sugar snap?

Sugar magnolia is a purple podded sugar snap which I grew last year. The plants grow to about 8ft tall.

[Penellype]

What I'd also like to know is roughly how many do you all sow?

I sow 10 pots of 5 peas each at a time as this comfortably fits in my unheated propagator and does 1m of row. The plants are closer together than some recommend, but as some of the plants are weak or the peas don't germinate, it works out about right for me.

If you are worried about germination, chit the peas first by soaking overnight then keeping them damp - a root should start to develop within a couple of days if the seed is viable and you can then plant them.

[bario1]

Sugar magnolia is a purple podded sugar snap which I grew last year. The plants grow to about 8ft tall.

Thanks Penellype, were they nice? Purple podded stuff never really appealed to me, so I've never tried any.