Harvesting Peas

[snakeshack]

i germinated two "rows" of kelvedon wonder in lengths of guttering using MPC in march and slid them out into scrapes as soon as they were 2 ins high.
they grew nearly 5 ft high and cropped very heavily,the later sowings (june)germinated well but the growth/crop was dissapointing
the later sowings of mange tout follow the same pattern

[bazzaboy]

C&D, I sympathise with your pea plight having had several failures with peas over the years which ended with a tangle of sticks and the pea nets from hell, short temper and not many peas.... But do try Welsh Wonder's solution of mangetout which I find are much easier to crop, no podding, more bang for your buck (pea for your effort) and best of all as you crop them they're prompted into reflowering so with a bit of canny rotation a few plants will keep producing. You can use them as a standard cooked veg, sliced into stir-fries, chopped raw into salads, easily frozen etc. "Win win" as they say.... b.

[rana]

Couldn't agree more Bazzaboy. Mange tout are a much more reliable and rewarding crop - well worth the growing space committed to them.

[vikkib]

i germinated two "rows" of kelvedon wonder...
they grew nearly 5 ft high and cropped very heavily

5ft?!!

Mine were barely 2ft. I am definitely doing something wrong!

[Aileen35]

I had a bad year with Kelvedon Wonder last year but this year they did really well and tasted amazing. I think you can fush round them too much, so I just sewed them and left them to it, plenty of water, hey presto. Carrots where a disaster though so its swings and roundabouts for everyone.

[ptw1953]

My mange tout (Bijou) are not doing well at all, and my peas (Serpette Ameliorer d'Auvergne) are a tad disappointing as well. But on the bright side, my 4 sweetcorn (Waltham) have 4 cobs showing on each one. Bring on the sun (although I think that fierce sun we had here a month ago may have done for the mange tout and other peas...)

[maytreefrannie]

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?)

Jacob, I can't answer your question, but my broad beans are doing great while the peas - ???

Well, I saved some from last year and out of three sowings only one plant germinated. However, that plant has really thrived and is full of pods - I've already taken two small crops from it and I plan to pick some for dinner today.

I don't know the answer, I don't know why this one pea germinated and did so well while the rest just went to sleep.

[ckfe]

5ft?!!

Mine were barely 2ft. I am definitely doing something wrong!

mine are about a foot, but the stems are really thing, like bits of cotton.. got to be honest i only tied them to supports yesterday, before that they were lying on the floor.. each one has got one biggish pea pod on it already

will the plants grow bigger and stronger or will i just get one pod??

[Shadylane]

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 ........

Well the old fashioned ways don't work all the time for everyone. I sowed them in loo rolls first (cause people down the lottie say that mice always eat them if you put them in the ground) and had very poor germination. Then I pre-chitted them and had loads more luck. Although the plants themselves haven't been amazing but I didn't do anywhere near enough. The aphid explosion didn't help either. But you learn from your mishaps and hopefully do better next year. I'm going to try overwintering some this time I think.

[vikkib]

mine are about a foot, but the stems are really thing, like bits of cotton.. got to be honest i only tied them to supports yesterday, before that they were lying on the floor.. each one has got one biggish pea pod on it already

will the plants grow bigger and stronger or will i just get one pod??

The stems on mine started out fairly thin but they did thicken up but that was quite a while before they started flowering, let alone popping out pods!

Are there still plenty of flowers on them? If so there should be more pods soon.

[Alison]

Most of mine were sown direct, but at a much closer spacing than recommended so I get plenty of plants. Only the first early ones were sown in guttering to give them an early start. Loo rolls and prechitting is too much hassle for me considering the amount I want to grow but I'm lucky enough not to have a mouse problem which some of you seem to suffer from.

[ckfe]

The stems on mine started out fairly thin but they did thicken up but that was quite a while before they started flowering, let alone popping out pods!

Are there still plenty of flowers on them? If so there should be more pods soon.

yeah quite a few flowers... no idea why they've all got one almost fully grown pod on though.. on some of them the pod is nearly as tall as the plant!

[ladylottie]

Hi, Not sure what's gone wrong - I'm still learning as I go. Last year I grew Kelvedon Wonder and just sowed them in the ground. They Did really well for my first attempt. Tis year I've grown 3 rows of Kelvedon Wonder (I just made a wide trench and threw the seeds along it) and have had masses of peas. Have eaten loads and the rest is in the freezer.

My failure has been with onions. You win some, you lose some!

All I can say is - don't give up - fresh peas are so lovely! Give them another go next year.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

My two early sowing of peas both cropped brilliantly (used Hatif D'Annonay). Best not talk about my beans

[SlugLobber]

I only had ONE pea grow to fruition, this year. I did keep track of most of them (sown all around the garden) and many germinated. Are you sure you haven't got little visitors nibbling them as they germinate? This is what happened with my parsnips and carrots last year (and peas this year). The only surviving pea is in a high container. I don't think it's coincidence! Next year it's pea hanging baskets for me, I think!!