Please Please Please - Advise Me on - Peas Peas Peas

[Dynamite]

Sorry about the title, couldn’t help myself. I’m thinking about what I want to grow next year and we have never done any Peas. We want to do Both Marrowfat type and Garden type Peas.

Need variety/s that are easy to grow from seed, plant after Christmas, harvested whenever. I’m in hull, have Greenhouse and raised beds and something to grow up.

Kind Regards.......Rob

[veggiechicken]

You could start with http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...eas_83902.html

[Snoop Puss]

I'm pretty hopeless at growing peas. But one variety that never fails me is Douce Provence. They're not a tall variety, so maybe not as productive as some. But brilliant sown February time. Never fail, despite whatever the weather might throw at them (though I did cover them with plastic one year when snow was forecast, not sure if that was necessary but it made me feel I was doing something useful and might have helped to take the weight of snow).

[Penellype]

I don't know anything about marrowfat peas, but the most reliable and productive ordinary pea I know is Hurst Greenshaft. These are wrinkle seeded so need planting in spring rather than autumn and they are a maincrop so a March sowing is ready in July. For earlies I grow Meteor, which is round seeded and therefore more tolerant of cold and wet conditions, but I still sow in spring, usually in February - these are usually ready in early June.

In general peas produce their pods over a week or 2 and then finish so in order to have a constant supply you need to make several sowings. Some varieties will make new growth once the peas have been harvested (Douce Provence and Meteor do this, Hurst GS usually doesn't). You can get the odd late pod of peas from these but it usually isn't worth the wait unless you have plenty of space to leave them just in case.

When sowing peas, be aware that the seeds are very attractive to mice. I sow mine indoors in 9cm pots (square are best), 5 seeds to a pot (4 in the corners and 1 in the middle). They can go outside into a cold frame or greenhouse soon after they germinate and I then plant the pots in a row when the plants are a few inches high. 10 pots does a metre of row. This gives a much thicker row of peas than planting them at the 2-3 inches apart recommended on the packets, but some of the seeds probably won't germinate and some of the plants may be small and weak. I find 5 to a pot is about right and the plants don't mind being this crowded.

[Greenleaves]

Glad you are trying these, after all its Christmas so Give Peas a Chance

[veggiechicken]

When you see those little peas in their pods they'll be singing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_Fz2Np-Z4

[Penellype]

When you see those little peas in their pods they'll be singing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_Fz2Np-Z4

Haven't heard that for donkey's years. 1989?! Sad to say I remember the 1967 version

[Thelma Sanders]

I don't usually faff about with pots..
In early March I cover the row with some plastic sheeting and leave for a couple of days to warm up, then pull back the cover to sow. Pull a trench with a draw hoe and then sow a good handful per foot run of trench.
Some will grow some won't but enough will grow for a thick row Cover over again loosely with the poly til they come through. Assuming it isn't freezing cold at that stage, I remove the poly, put up the canes and strings and leave them to get on with it

I like growing the tall pea Alderman, and this makes lovely marrowfat peas if you leave them on the vines to get really fat before picking the pods.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Old fashioned me, I like Kelvedon Wonder, not a tall pea but a lovely taste. Early maturing I can get two crops most years.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow Telephone peas they're a tall pea and they seem to be rather like sweet peas, the more you pick them the more keep on producing.

[bikermike]

If you were a Duran Duran fan, you could have gone for "Please Peas Tell Me Now (is there something I should know). (I know I shouldn't make Duran Duran jokes, but it's a Reflex...)

#2 for Kelvedon Wonder here, although they are over and done quite quickly. I planted mine straight into the ground last year in april(?) and had much better luck that starting them in the greenhouse where they got nobbled by aphids. Also did mange toutes and haricot beans (unknown variety - bought a plant from an allotment sale and kept the seed).

[bramble]

You could try Early Onward or Kelvdon Wonder.
Both are good producers and not very tall.
I start thrm off in modules first and thrn plant out.

[Mark_Riga]

I grow lots of peas. Main problem is mice if you have them. I grow hurst greenshaft I think ( I haven't bought a pea for 10+ years just save my own seeds).
Because of mice, I tend to sow about 400 peas in 4 seed trays, a bit crowded, and plant them out 12 to a foot about in 3 rows about 3inches apart. so about a 30foot row. This is when they are about 2 inches high in the trays and the roots are not too matted. I then put string on both sides of the row from quite low down to the hight of the peas as they grow - up to 3 feet. I find it important to support them properly so pods don't trail on the ground to attract mice. I used to do several sowing but found later ones were more and more infested with pea moth so now just sow the once in early March and find very few grubs in the pods.
I do allow several pods on the bigger plants to ripen for sowing next year and I alway allow more than I think I will need as these tend to get attacked by pea moth grubs so a percentage will be lost. These would also be your marrow-fat peas as that is what they are. Peas that have been allowed to mature and dry naturally on the plant.

[Mark_Riga]

Also, for marrowfat, you could try sowing some from a shop bought packet of dried peas you like. Your problem would be that you would not know how tall they might grow but they should germinate.