Pea trenches?

[BeatTheSeasons]

I am lazy when I can get away with it.

When I was going to plant my onions I read a long missive in a serious book about a method involving pegs and planting lines and hoes. Then I got Carole Klein's book out and it just said "push them in the ground" or words to that effect.

So..... is it really necessary to sow peas in specially dug trenches and if so why?

[Alison]

Do you mean peas or onions?

I've never done a pea (or onion!) trench - always do one for beans but not peas.

My early peas are sown in guttering otherwise they'd rot in the cold damp soil but later ones are simply pushed in and watered and I do fine.

[denise]

I grow my peas in loo rolls and plant the whole lot, not always in rows, depending on space.

[rustylady]

Bean trenches are usually dug out around now when the beans have finished cropping, and are filled with organic matter to rot down over winter. This provides a reservoir of moisture and nutrients for the beans. I suppose if you really wanted to you could do the same for peas, but it's not really necessary unless your soil is really poor.

[womble]

If there is anyone who is a lazy gardener, it's me. I like the best return for the least work.
But, when I do things properly and when I don't, I see a difference most of the time.

Peas do like a deep, high organic matter soil, although I've never made a pea trench, I have mused upon it being a good idea. Good soil and spacing = good peas. Bad soil = bad peas.
Somewhere in the middle, = middling peas