Harvesting Peas

[Cosmo and Dibs]

How do you tell when peas are ready to be picked? Do you tell by feeling the firmness of the pods?

I'm growing Kelvedon Wonder, and they've been a disaster. I won't bother growing peas next year.

[zazen999]

Why not try and work out what went wrong so that you can do it differently next year; rather than not growing them again. What went wrong exactly?

[Cosmo and Dibs]

I tried various ways to get them to germinate- soaking, chitting, or just planting them in the ground. Out of the 600 seeds I sowed, I have around 10 decent plants. The ones that did germinate have struggled and look very unhealthy.

I've followed all the guides on the internet, but they have been very disappointing. I spent lots of money on netting and suppoprts, too.

I'd rather go with the things that I know are successful- carrots, onions, spuds, beans, etc.

[Welsh Wizard]

Sounds like my french beans this year!

I had great success this year with sowing 1 pea (oregon sugarpod mangetout) per module cell in multi purpose compost on my kitchen window sill. This generated lots of plug plants (150+)which I then dibbed out. Harvested when young for mangetout. I did two sowings which are all harvested out now and am thinking about trying to squeeze one last late row in as a gamble....

Perhaps you had a bad batch of seed or compost or hungry mice or a combination of the above?

[rana]

The seed needs to be reasonably fresh. Old peas can be a devil to germinate and bring on sucessfully. If you think the effort is too much by all means grow something else with the knowledge that frozen supermarket peas are relatively inexpensive and taste great - one of the few vegges that commercial production hasn't ruined.

[danmon_81]

i've just harvested all my peas (ambassador) and managed to crop loads! i planted about 25 seeds and gave them stick support...didnt do much else....got loads frozen in the freezer!

Me and my god daughters have also been eating them in the garden out of the pods!! mmmmmmmm

[Two_Sheds]

My early sowings (March) were fab ... later sowings were very hit and miss (mostly miss).

In my opinion, peas like cooler weather better, and don't do so well in the heat.

also, mine did much better sown in loo rolls first, then transplanted.

[ann-the-nan]

Harvesting Peas

Did mine in loo rolls as well and grew Kelv. wonder. Also did the BB's,runner Beans, Flat Beans, Sweet peas and yin yang beans. All very successful.

[Reks]

I too had a disaster with Kelvedon Wonder. Terrible germination....tried various methods and very low success rate. The ones that finally germinated got into trouble with the manure I used. I sowed them in May. I will try to sow these earlier next year and without any manure.

[jacob]

Chitted 120 or so ambassador in damp kitchen towel in March, planting out in April, with a massive crop. Planted more straight into the ground in May with a very poor germination rate.

(Why are my peas producing, but my broad beans rubbish?)

[vikkib]

I planted about 120 odd seeds in loo rolls filled with MPC and about 90 or so germinated. I planted them out and they seemed to do fine but I only got enough peas for a couple of decent size cottage pies and I didn't even eat *that* many in the garden!

I read somewhere recently about pinching out the tops of the peas so maybe that could give better results next year.

Despite diligently planting them in two very neat rows, putting canes in at either end of the rows and putting string in between each set of canes, I don't think I gave them enough support as some of them were flopping around all over the place and they generally formed more of a large pea 'bush'!

Not sure how much of an effect extra support would provide, I guess the further from the ground the less chance of pods getting munched by creatures other than myself and other half!

[Farmer_Gyles]

i don't get the need for things like chitting peas - the old fashioned ways have been tried and tested, proven to work a zillion times over ........

[Reks]

I too had a disaster with Kelvedon Wonder. Terrible germination....tried various methods and very low success rate. The ones that finally germinated got into trouble with the manure I used. I sowed them in May. I will try to sow these earlier next year and without any manure.

[jacob]

i don't get the need for things like chitting peas - the old fashioned ways have been tried and tested, proven to work a zillion times over ........

Definitely got a higher pea plant/seed ratio chitting than I did planting straight into the ground the previous year. Seemed to prevent things from digging them up.

[toastie]

I too tried to grow Kelvedon Wonder and they were an absolute disaster - only really tried to grow them as my mum complained she was fed up with the amount (too many) of runner beans that I grew last year. Wondered if it was something I'd done (or not done) with the peas but others on the allotment have had a bad year as well. Don;t think I'll bother with them next year - will try broad beans instead.