Asparagus peas

[SueA]

Hi, has anyone out there grown asparagus peas successfully? I bought a pot with about 9 seedlings in it at the weekend from Robinsons(the home of the Mammoth onion!) for £1 & am not sure how to treat them. The blurb says they are self-supporting & grow to about 45cm high so would they be O.K. in a large pot or should they be spaced out more & planted into the ground? Any ideas would be welcome.

[Nicos]

We grew them last year. They were very easy to grow. They are not frost hardy, so I would suggest you pot them on into individual pots for now and leave them somewhere cool but frost free until the last frost. They can then be planted out as a dwarf pea (with support twigs) about a foot apart. They are quite bushy and very pretty plants - red flowers-, and I think would look good in pots. ?One per 10-12" pot or 3 in a larger tub. Would look nice too in clumps around the garden. Make sure you pick the pods whilst very small. Once they get to about an inch they begin getting fibrous. Nice flavour too! Had no problems with pests or diseases either.

[SueA]

Thanks Nicos,
I'll pot them up separately for now & keep them undercover & will try some in pots & some in the ground. I know you eat the whole pod like mangetout but do you cook them the same as peas & mangetout for just a few minutes & can you stir-fry with them too?

[Nicos]

We just steamed ours for a few mins . Never tried stirfrying them but you must make sure you pick them small otherwise you'll be gumming them to death!

[SueA]

Thanks, I'll pick them very young or my OH will not eat them, he moans if there's anything resembling a string in his runner beans!

[Tigger]

Generally - they look better than they taste! As above - they're fine steamed or stir fried when young, but tough and fibrous otherwise. I grow them every year, then wonder why I bother!

[Nicos]

hummmm..that's why I was offering spare seeds this year!! think I will plant some in tubs now in the garden though rather than waste them as they do make pretty plants. I quite liked the flavour though,and they make a nice soup if rubbed through a sieve to take out the stringy bits. Glad I've still got a few seeds now although will only plant out about 6.

[SueA]

Really worried now about these 'stringy bits', can't see my OH going for these at all. He hates asparagus anyway, although I love it, so if they're stringy & asparagus flavoured I've no chance. As they look pretty maybe I'll just tell him I'm growing sweet peas-he likes them!

[andrewo]

Grew them here in the first year, look lovely but didn't like the taste, good border plant though.

[flower]

after 2 years of trying the first year hubby 'hoed' them off !! and last year we moved and gave the lottie up they where planted in so fingers crossed for this year :lol

[nick the grief]

Hi Flower Welcome to the vine, Hope you have more luck this year! I've never grown them , thought about it one year but was put off by someone who said something along the same lines as Andrew, but with a few more expletives thrown in

[Nicos]

SueA - just take them tiny!!! They have a lovely ,mildly sweet , delicate flavour. Ignore these heathens!!

[Tigger]

Have to disagree......Tough and a waste of space.

[pigletwillie]

I am with Tigger, tough, I can think of better crops to grow in the space. Normal pea tips are better.

[SueA]

Well I just harvested my first aspargus pea crop yesterday, 23 little pods from the 8 surviving plants I put in.Admittedly some of them were a bit longer than the one inch or so recommended as they all grew like mad last week when we were away but I cooked them & ate them with tea last night (just enough for me as OH was away).Don't think I'll bother with them again though as they had quite a nice flavour but even the tiny ones had hard stringy bits which were just inedible! They did look very pretty when growing though, like a small rusty red sweet pea flower. Never mind, you live & learn!