Germinating time quandry...peas

[eskymo]

Hi there

I planted out three rows of peas on the 16th this month and covered with a mini polutunnel I got from Lidl [my oh my that shop gets a lot of publicity on these forums]. It' the type with plastic with holes init...so it might not be keeping the ground warm.

Anyway, I'm just wondering how peas take to germinate. Should they be popping out yet or do I have longer to wait.

I'm never any good at how long things take to germinate, so going to look online to see if I can find a decent chart...will post it up here if I do find one. Unless anyone out there has got something good - post it up here if you do!

[Jaxom]

I soaked my peas overnight before planting them to give them a head start. they took about 7 to 10 days to get above ground level.
Jax

[eskymo]

Ah! I didn't know you should do that - Will do that next time. Actually think I might plant a few more rows this week - can't do any harm. Will soak them theis time and see what happens. Thanks.

[bramble]

Hi Eskymo, why not start them in your poly tunnel and then when they do germinate you can plant them out. At least you're giving them a head start. I always start mine off this way and then you can see how well they,re doing and not have gaps in between where som e have failed. Good Luck.

[eskymo]

I had a brainwave whilst out with the dog earlier - we passed a skip down the road that had a load of plastic drainpipes in it and I remember ages ago reading about folk sawing drainpipes in half and using these to plant their peas in. So going down there later to see what I can pinch and will see what I can set up tomorrow.

I was just following the advice on the packet as it says to sow directly into the ground and I thought peas might not like their roots disturbed...but the drainpipe idea is a good one so going to try that out and plant them in the greenhouse.

[Lesley Jay]

Mice also like eating peas when sown straight into the ground so starting them off indoors first is a good idea.

[sewer rat]

Hi Eskymo
I'm growing two varieties of peas this year. I have Early Onward which I sowed in a length of guttering in my unheated greenhouse on 10th April and they are all above the compost and growing strongly - another 100% germination for the Rat . Will be making another sowing in a second length of guttering this weekend. Cannot remember exactly what date they started to sprout but Hessayons Veg & Herb Expert give a germination time of between 7 - 10 days. Will sow my maincrop (Alderman) in first week of May, after planting out first gutter length of Early Onward.

[dragonz]

I started mine indoors in a propagator on saturday and I've got baby peas just poking up now YAY and baby lettuce and squash and khol rabi, I'm sooooooooooo excited can't wait to eat them when they are bigger

[eskymo]

I've just put my peas in a jar to soak and will plant them tomorrow. I fell asleep on the couch last night and so never went out to check on those drainpipes in that skip, but will venture out today and see if they're still there.

[JennieAtkinson]

I the drainpipe idea is a good one so going to try that out and plant them in the greenhouse.

I did that last year Eskymo, with guttering, but there were no ends to it. Everytime I watered them the compost just flowed off the ends! I should be posting this in "finding out the hard way"!

[eskymo]

Thanks for pointing out that flaw!

[poultrychat]

I planted out a petite pois pea about a month ago and all except one have poked their heads up and I gave them no protection but now I have them under cut off plastic bottles to stop the birds from getting them.

I used cut off drainpipes last year for all sorts of seeds - I didn't put much soil towards the ends of them and really didn't have a problem with the soil falling out, brilliant at planting time

[eskymo]

I never did get my hang on that guttering...but I did soak my pea seeds and then planted them in the greenhouse in seed trays and they've practically all come up...and similarly so have the ones I've planted in the ground, but those haven't been so successful...I can now harden these off and plant them out with the others once they're hardy enough. thanks for all the help.

[Gryfon]

I only sowed mine about a week or less ago and they're already coming up! Can't wait! Just need to keep the snails away.

[bramble]

Eskymo, I always soak any big seed eg. peas, sweet pea, nasturtiums and any other you can think of like those and then i start them off in modules. When you plant out they have a better chance of surviving. If any do fail at least you can see where the gaps are and plant in its place. Always worked for me.