Which full height Peas in a poly hopefully please ?

[ukmastiff]

Lo all, I have a 5 metre trench down the middle of my 6m by 3 m poly and
would like to put a net along the middle and grow peas up it as the kids love them.

There are two parts to my query really , one is , is it O.K to grow peas in the poly as opposed to outside and the second is a recomendation for a full height variety to take advantage of the 2 metre height. I grew a dwarf variety before ( Kelvden wonder) and feel I could hopefully do better on cropping with a nice full height one up a net down the middle ?

Failing tht am i better off with some kind of Bean cropping wise, Im not to sure how many ways we would cook with beans though as they arent in our normal ' veg usage list' :P

Thanks

Mas

[sewer rat]

You could grow your peas and / or beans in your tunnel but you will have to watch out for mildew as both produce very bushy growth and there's not a lot of air flow in a tunnel unless you open both ends.
As far as growing a variety of peas for height, Alderman is a good bet and has a long cropping season and good sized pods.

[ukmastiff]

Its not a 'proper tunnel' its an e bay special jobbie with vented sides you can open and get quite a draught in. I had a smaller one and it was great so i have put up a large one this year.
( see my welcome post pics). The advice on airflow is much appreciated, this is the sort of thing that would catch a novice like myself out and will be heeded !.

I am googling as we speek and think I will put in a mix of Alderman and one other so I get variety and hopefully more of a success guarantee

Ill stick the pack of Kelvdon I have somewhere , as you cant have too many peas can you !

Cheers

Mas

[King Carrot]

Is there any reason you want to grow them inside?
I tried tall peas in a large blowaway during summer a few years ago, I don't think they liked the heat and then got powdery mildew like I've never seen on anything else before. I tried tall peas undercover as mine were starting to rot almost as they started cropping in the cool damp summers we were having. I reckon French beans is the way to go over summer as they'll crop til the temperature really starts to drop and I do try to have an early crop of Kelveldon Wonder peas that I start in late Jan/early Feb in the tunnel. I am trying the Oskar pea and some Norli mange tout inside aswell for an early crop before the beans and toms etc. are planted in their place.

[ukmastiff]

Yes m8ee , my problem is my paddock is surrounded by rabbitts and anything i plant out is stripped bare. They even dug up EVERY jerusalem artichoke and i love them. Are you saying beans are better in the greenhouse than peas im well open to ideas ?

Ta

[King Carrot]

Yes m8ee , my problem is my paddock is surrounded by rabbitts and anything i plant out is stripped bare. They even dug up EVERY jerusalem artichoke and i love them. Are you saying beans are better in the greenhouse than peas im well open to ideas ?

Ta

Could you fence a patch in to keep the rabbits out?

Would there be anyway you could connect it to the 3000V in your sig as that would sort the rabbits, well and truly out

I grow all my Climbing French beans in a tunnel and blowaways, otherwise they get stripped by the wind. Maybe someone nearer you has tried peas in tunnels over summer but it didn't work for me.

[ukmastiff]

I have the electric fencing around the duck pond , its quite a large natural pond so the poultry netting takes up the energiser that we have though it is a real shocker I assure you as Ive been zapped several times. We dont have the fence turned on anymore as the foxes stay away in the day and we are careful to put our 15 ducks away before dusk. The two fences one inside the other definately deters and confuses them too even without the leckie though a good tip !

I could quite easily put up electric fencing over the old veg patch using just electric wire and our current energiser but I am told that rabbitts will tunnel in very quickly. This sounds true as they burrow under the land at the edges of my paddock which is sloped like I'm up on a small hill and they have burrows all around the edges of it. It would possibly be a lot of aggro to reinstate the veg patch and securely fence it. Now I have the larger poly/greenhouse I think I'd prefer to stick to using it as they have never burrowed in to one of my 'polys'.

I'd still like to know if beans are better inside ?

Regards Mas

[sewer rat]

I have never grown peas inside as they do well outside for me but I have grown both Runner and French (Climbing and Dwarf) Beans in my tunnel - if they are outside they get flattened by the winds after they poke their heads above the windbreak - and they were both successful.

[ukmastiff]

Okay, so how about a change of plan to a full height tasty bean good for chillis and the like , we do cook a few chillis and I promise to share some beans

Regards

Mas

[Alison]

I grow a row of early dwarf peas in the polytunnel, had a crop about a month earlier than the outside ones last year and the ones I have in the is year (planted out from drainpipe about a week ago) are doing very well. Have a row of mange tout also but both will be out before the main summer crops.

[Potstubsdustbins]

As to the rabbits, they will go very well with your peas, beans and some new potato's