Purple Mangetout project (story so far)

[Flummery]

You don't get rich and famous breeding veg in this country - unless you are working for one of the big companies. They are the only ones able to register a breed at £2,000 plus the annual up-keep fee. If I get something consistent that I like, I'll be pleased. Purple pods will 'wash out' so to speak, when cooked, like purple podded beans do. I like my mangetout raw in salad so that's what I'm aiming for. Crisp and tender. Interesting to do though.

[quark1]

How about Purple Princess after its colour and the lady who brought them into the world!

[Flummery]

Cor, you're a star (and a flatterer!)
Old Dear might be more accurate!

[quark1]

Can't find the name in use with a quick search - grab the name and pass on %age of your 'marketing' royalites to moi!

Seriously - best of luck with the development. Perhaps one of the seed sellers will pay for the registration etc in return for some exclusivity in return. Could be a fair injection to your pension pot and to pass down to family when the time comes.

[Snadger]

Well done flum. How high do they grow and how prolific are they? Or will you not know until you plant the progeny again next year?

I reckon 'Purple Podded Mangetout Pea' would be a good, if not glib, name for it!

PS Can you not sneak another sowing in this year?

[SarzWix]

How about 'Flummery's Lancastrian Purple Sugar Pod' ? Nice and long to make an impact in the HSL catalogue

Seriously though, it sounds like an amazingly interesting project (even the varicose vein ones ) and if you need volunteers to grow some out in a few years, I'd happily put my hand up

[zazen999]

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

[womble]

That's brilliant Flum, I've just been updating my knowledge, reading about Daughter of the soils pea experiments.

I still want to get my holy grail, which is a purple podded, tall growing, sweet flavoured pea. Maybe when I retire

[Two_Sheds]

Well done Flummery, more patience (and expertise) than me, by far.

May I propose a Chief Taster though?

[rustylady]

Well done Flummery, more patience (and expertise) than me, by far.

May I propose a Chief Taster though?

Brilliant - looks like she's really enjoying it.

[womble]

Well done Flummery, more patience (and expertise) than me, by far.

May I propose a Chief Taster though?

I thought she was going to do something funny at the end, like shout out "Flum is fun!" or something.

[OllieMartin]

After a lot of brain straining, question asking, wikipedia reading and studying of Flum's posts I've eventually got my head around cross-pollinating and breeding and how F1s, F2s etc are produced.

But how many generations down do you have to go before you can be sure you get a consistent strain?

[Edilith]

What a gorgeous colour! Well done you clever thing Flumm

[Flummery]

Well folks, thanks for all your comments.
The pea that Kali was really enjoying was 2 generations ago from my purple mangeout. That's Lancashire Lad which I think makes a reasonable mangetout when it's young like that, but when it ages it produces a tough membrane in the pod which protects the pea seed inside. Mangetouts lack this membrane. This means that they can be eaten whole at any stage, even when quite nobbly when the peas swell.

This one is the second generation from the cross. It's tall growing and it has produced branches which are still flowering and setting peas, sp the crop will be good. I tried one a couple of weeks back because it just somehow had 'the look' about it and it was beautifully sweet and crisp. Yesterday I could see that the older pods were getting nobbly so I tried one of those, to check it was still nice at that stage. Yep, crunchy and lovely! The received wisdom is that you need about 7 generations to be sure that the line is stable. I should get mangetouts from it next year but they might not yet breed true for purple. In that case I need to save seed from all the purple ones and grow another lot - etc. etc. I can't grow another lot this year because the peas inside aren't ripe enough to sow. If I sow more of the F1 seeds that they came from I'll get another huge spread of types like this year and may not even get another purple mangetout.

Future developments -
This year I've crossed Goldensweet with Ezetha's Krombek Blauwschok (that's a yellow mangetout with a purple sheller); Goldensweet with Sugar Snap (thanks to SBP for those!) so two lots of edible pod genes in the mixture there; and Carruthers Purple Podded with Magnum Bonum. This is my go at a sweet purple sheller (Magnum Purpureum?)

I'm starting to think that if this purple mangetout line comes good I might have to call it Kali!

[maypril]

Whoo - me own peas!

Absolutely! You must be so proud. I'd love to be able to point to a plant in the garden and rather than say "I grew that", but actually say "I made that!"