pea stakes

[Flummery]

Alderman are good. Big pods and very tasty. The others are heritage varieties, mainly from the Heritage Seed Library (£20 per year for membership)

[willgrow]

Thanks dont have a polytunnel (yet) but get the idea,sounds good, I love sugar snap peas.

[Two_Sheds]

pea moth so I have to keep them covered

you only need to cover the flowers - when they've set you can remove the cover (I use voile net curtains, pegged to my chicken wire with ... pegs)

[King Carrot]

Last year I used chicken wire tied to a few stakes, everything was going well with the peas completely filling the wire, then one extremely windy night the whole thing blew over. Will probaly do the same this year but with a few more stakes.

Last season was the first in many seasons in which my peas or supports didn't blow down. For peas up to 5ft I used 1/2" round iron as my stakes to hold the chicken wire and as the peas grew I tied them in both sides with string catching any that grew outside the bundle next time I tied them in.

With tall peas I make 2 bamboo frames 5ft apart with a couple of bits of wood across the top in a ∏ shape. I fix pea or bean netting to these and tie the peas in as they grow -my aldermans did eventually blow over and collapse but they had reached nearly 12ft so we won't be growing them again - will we!

The blue ropes are tying the whole ∏ frame to a tree one side and the runner bean "Munty Frame" the other. After one of our gales the whole lot was leaning right over but luckily no damage done - the same gale snapped aload of poles in the blowaway tunnel but that's another story with a happy end.

Pictures of some of the tall peas


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[willgrow]

wow lovley peas I have yet to try the tall varieties, thanks for showing your pictures. How many actually reached the pot? its very hard not to eat them while weeding. its good to see how everyone manages to use different supports, I will have to try out some this year.

[willgrow]

Good idea will give it a go thanks.

[Alison]

Apart from my early peas which I grow in the polytunnel, all my peas are tall ones. I grow in 4' rows with three 8' canes pushed into the ground (one at each end and one in the middle) and put that plastic trellice stuff with mesh size about 3 or 4" over the canes to hold it straight. The peas then climb up it quite happily and can easily be picked. Got some of the support stuff for free off my mum and freecycle but had to buy some more last year. Not cheap but it will last for years. Would post a photo but can't find one at the moment

[King Carrot]

wow lovley peas I have yet to try the tall varieties, thanks for showing your pictures. How many actually reached the pot? its very hard not to eat them while weeding. its good to see how everyone manages to use different supports, I will have to try out some this year.

I grew (or attempted as the chaffinches had their say with seedlings) a total of about 15 ft of tall eating peas and 20ft of tall mange tout. For shorter peas 50ft of Kelveldon wonder (which grew over 5ft tall for me and 12 ft of mange tout in two sowings early and late. There was enough to share some with friends, cook some fresh, freeze some and snack on while working.

[willgrow]

you put me to shame,I thought I was doing quite well until I read about your peas. Do you get pea moth( I sound like a broken record) but I'm really interested, they have been the only pest I have had trouble with each year. i do grow lots of other veg but peas are a bit of a challenge on my plot. I'm envious

[willgrow]

Thanks to all my replies,they have been very helpful. P.S I do grow lots of other veg!

[King Carrot]

you put me to shame,I thought I was doing quite well until I read about your peas. Do you get pea moth( I sound like a broken record) but I'm really interested, they have been the only pest I have had trouble with each year. i do grow lots of other veg but peas are a bit of a challenge on my plot. I'm envious

Don't get pea moth here - hope we never do. We do get the diamond back moth on peas but the caterpillars eat the young leaves and flowers so more of a minor nuisance – they usually start to appear from mid June. Never seen blackfly on beans here either though we usually get greyfly or grey aphids overwintering on brassicas. Our main warzone is the rampant slug and snail population, eelworms, black pill millipedes and we never harvest brassicas July till late October - just too messy with caterpillars.

[Jono]

They are amazing peas King Carrot, you need to employ workers to harvest them all!

Did you feed them at all?

[King Carrot]

They are amazing peas King Carrot, you need to employ workers to harvest them all!

Did you feed them at all?

There's just me, herself and a 5 year old, but because he can pick and put away a lot of peas while we're working he has his own row of peas.

If I get my way I put or dig in seaweed or/and any animal manure down on all the ground that needs it (not for carrots!) over winter and spring. Just before planting I use a complete fertilizer – I water peas if required until they are established and then leave them to get on with it.

The garden I plant up was part of a small dairy farm for generations till the seventies and a few animals were over wintered in this bit. It's not deep soil, just a foot deep in some places and averages around 2ft in others, its just incredibly fertile and I do everything I can to keep it this way.

[Alison]

Thankfully we don't suffer with any pea pests round here at all although the earlier peas last year were much more prolific than the later ones but think that was down to sunshine / rain at the right / wrong times.