Pea growing guide needed

[littlemoney]

I am growing some veg this year I have never grown before. I have been reading the growing guides for my other veg but I can't see one for peas. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a pea growing guide for a newbie please.

I am probably a bit late for seed sowing but I would like still give it a try. Thanks

[roitelet]

You are not too late. Soak the peas overnight and then sow them in a drill about 5 cm deep cover and keep damp. Give them something to climb up, twiggy sticks or netting. I use square netting supported on metal tension rods. Lasts for years. Once they are several cm high give them a mulch of grass cuttings, not too deep and keep it away from the stems, keep them well watered. Sit back and wait and then enjoy, nothing like fresh peas!

[ameno]

"Early" variety of peas can be sown right through to the end of June, so you have plenty of time. Although sowings any later than mid-May do tend to be very prone to powdery mildew.

[peanut]

Definitely not too late. I've just ordered more! I sow them indoors in pots, planting out when a few inches high. Mice always ate the seeds when I sowed direct.
Here's a guide https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-y...egetables/peas

[Penellype]

I've sown some today. I sow 5 seeds per 3.5 inch pot and germinate them indoors to keep mice off them. I then harden them off in my growhouse or cold frame and plant them when they are about 4 inches high. You need about 10 pots to 1m of row.

Peas need something to climb up, and grown like this they are quite heavy and need decent support. I use plastic mesh secured to metal or wooden stakes with cable ties.

[roitelet]

Definitely not too late. I've just ordered more! I sow them indoors in pots, planting out when a few inches high. Mice always ate the seeds when I sowed direct.
Here's a guide https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-y...egetables/peas

If you have a problem with mice eating peas put some snippets of gorse in the drills. The mice dig down to find the peas and get their noses pricked, poor little things, really puts them off!!!

[littlemoney]

I've sown some today. I sow 5 seeds per 3.5 inch pot and germinate them indoors to keep mice off them. I then harden them off in my growhouse or cold frame and plant them when they are about 4 inches high. You need about 10 pots to 1m of row.

Peas need something to climb up, and grown like this they are quite heavy and need decent support. I use plastic mesh secured to metal or wooden stakes with cable ties.

If I need 10 pots per 1m row thats 50 seeds. Looks like my row won't be very long as I don't have 50 seeds to sow. Sounds like I might get a meal or two at most. I didn't know I didn't need so many.

[ameno]

It depends somewhat on what sort of pea you are growing. That spacing is for dwarf plants (which admittedly most modern varieties are). If you have tall ones, which grow to 5 feet or more, they need more space.

[annie8]

I grow alderman which is really tall. I space each one about 8-10 cm apart.

[Mark_Riga]

I plant 12 peas per foot and get about 113g of peas per foot podded. So 50 seeds should do 4' row and get you about 1lb of peas spread then a wee bit more and you could get a bit more. How you grow them depends a lot on the pests you get. I get mice, pigeons and pea moth. so I sow them in trays and when I plant them out, I put 2' high chicken wire down either either side. Gives them support and stops the pigeons. Then I find that if I plant reasonably early and just one crop, I have minimal damage from pea moths.

I'm in Cheshire and sowed mine about the 1st week in April. I save my own seeds which entails leaving some on the plants to ripen and dry which takes a few months. I find when I pick those that pea moth damage is quite considerable. I used to sow at intervals to spread the season but found later sowing had more and more damage. So we have some fresh for a few weeks but out of the freezer for the rest of the year for which it is out of the garden, podded and straight into the freezer.

[muckdiva]

If I need 10 pots per 1m row thats 50 seeds. Looks like my row won't be very long as I don't have 50 seeds to sow. Sounds like I might get a meal or two at most. I didn't know I didn't need so many.

Just sow what you have and pick regularly to keep the plants producing. Leave a few pods to dry and save the seeds from them for next year’s crop and you’ll have plenty

[littlemoney]

Thanks for all the advice. I hadn't realised it was so complex and fraught with problems and pests and so many seeds were needed to make it worth while setting up the pest prevention measures to get a decent crop. I am having a learning experience. Seems I was over ambitious in my expectations of results.

[peanut]

Don't get disheartened, it's fun, honest! Just poke some seeds into compost, when a few inches high start popping them outside to harden off a lbit, then when they look like they are strong little plants pop the whole lot into the ground. Put twigs or netting or something in for them to scramble up and away you go.
It really is much easier once you get going.

[Penellype]

Thanks for all the advice. I hadn't realised it was so complex and fraught with problems and pests and so many seeds were needed to make it worth while setting up the pest prevention measures to get a decent crop. I am having a learning experience. Seems I was over ambitious in my expectations of results.

Don't worry, growing food is always a learning experience and you probably won't get all of the problems mentioned. Some years I get pea moth damage and some I don't - this seems to sometimes be correlated with growing nasturtiums nearby, resulting in less or no pea moth, but I haven't enough data to be sure that it isn't just coincidence. My method of growing is based on trying to get as big a crop as possible from a small space, if you have more space and fewer seeds they will probably benefit from growing a bit further apart. There are no hard and fast rules in gardening (well, very few anyway!).

[ameno]

I never get pea moth where I am, so maybe you won't either. I do get other problems with peas, though. Foot rot is a common problem, and late sowings (sown late May onward) always get mildew.