Where do peas come from?

[monkeyboy]

Both last year and this year, I grew peas quite easily. I did have a heated propagator to hand and found peas and sweetcorn were the first to germinate and grow. Sadly the peas were too large for the propagator, too small for the garden and I ended up with dying peas.

My main gripe, though, is why they heck don't peas actually climb?!?! I give them good support, plant on the side away from the sun, in the hope they're more likely to grow through the mesh, and I still end up tying them up to the mesh with string. Bah.

I had this when I grew peas last year for the first time. I tried to wrap them through pea netting but they didn't like it, prefering to entangle each other and flop over instead.

[veggiechicken]

( It always amuses me to pick peas from over my head height for some reason )

If I'd said that someone would have asked if they were dwarf peas..

I've had a few Bijou mangetout from a pot in the GH, sowed end of 2018. Just enough to keep the tastebuds primed for summer.

[burnie]

I always sow peas direct into the raised beds, first lot are growing well, second sowing went in yesterday, I have problems some years with poor germination and I do not think it's mice, just poor seeds in my opinion. I just sow more than I really want and get a decent crop and always cover with mesh to start with, then netting once they are climbing. I also place a stick in the ground and tie an old cd/dvd disc on a length of string, the noise and flashing in the sunlight seems to keep the birds at a safe distance.

[veggiechicken]

Is it Des O'Connor, burnie?

[burnie]

I've used the same one for a couple of years now and the labels faded, came free with a newspaper and no one liked it, so it got re cycled lol

[Martin H]

Those are exactly the words that were in my head when I read that thread title...

I'm ashamed to say that the words in my head were, "Captain Birds-eye".

[rary]

For me the problem is not a failure to germinate but that the plants get to about 15cm and then get decimated by the pigeons. I hate those pigeons.

Try them with garden peas they go quite well with those

[Miss Mousetrousers]

In the past I've sown my snap peas direct but some didn't germinate and I was left with unwanted gaps. This year I wanted to get a head start so sometime in mid-March I planted them in 6" pots (6 to a pot) then put them in my mini g-house with its cover on and germination was great. When the posts with sheep-netting were erected 4 weeks ago in my raised bed I tipped them out of their pots, gently separated them then firmly planted then on both sides of the net and gave them a good feed and watering. A few days later they started to grow upright and so far seem ok. I've never chitted them but it's a good idea to test if the seeds are ok.

[Gman]

Try them with garden peas they go quite well with those

They look delicious. If I looked as tasty as that I would not go around eating everyone else’s peas.