peas

[jacob]

I used to have no problems getting peas to germinate, but over the last couple of years things have gone wrong.

I've sown outside, in the ground in soil that has recently had quite a lot of compost from the heap hoed into it. Current germination is 5 peas from 2 x 8ft rows. Now, I could be impatient, and the beans next door have only just come up, but my feeling is that I'm going to need to resow. The seed is new (and I've had OK germination in cells for elsewhere). I've also covered with mini-poly to keep the birds off.

Is the issue that there's something about the fresh compost that's making the peas rot? The compost, I should add, has germinated all too well...

[mrswadders]

could possibly be mice, I've had that happen before - have you had a look to see if there's any remnants of the seeds in the ground?

[Bren In Pots]

Jacob have a read at this thread it might give you some ideas :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ion_84342.html

[jacob]

Thanks Bren! (I thought I'd seen a pea thread on here last week somewhere, but I guess going round in circles is an integral part of gardening). My previous experiments with chitting haven't been 100% successful, but perhaps I should try again.

mrswadders, I'm pretty sure it's not mice, no sign of any ground disturbance.

I'm still wondering about whether the interaction with the compost is a problem though...

[kathyd]

What went wrong with your chitting? I'd chit some more, and if you have the patience sow 5 to a small pot and plant them out when 2 or 3" high. I plant out the whole pot, I don't do rows any more. I get 9 pots per square metre, so every pot goes about a foot apart. And if it IS mice by any chance, they don't seed so bothered once the peas have germinated.