Grow your own! (Garden Pea)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Garden Pea
Date:	04/08/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to grow, don't attract many pests, some heavy croppers available

Disadvantages: You have to have loads of plants to provide all your peas for the year

I have been growing my own peas for about 30 years, originally because I accidentally destroyed my then three year old daughter's sunflower and I remembered from my own childhood how quickly peas grow. It seemed a fair replacement. She took such an interest that it rubbed off on me and eventually I went from just growing a few for fun to really nurturing the plants and helping to feed the family with these wonderfully sweet and natural peas.

It really is very easy to get a crop of peas, takes very little effort and is rather fun. Seeds are available from garden centres and supermarkets, or have a look on Ebay as I recently paid just £1.79 for 200 seeds. I wouldn't recommend any of the pea seeds Poundland are currently stocking however as from previous experience of this little known brand I can tell you the peas will be small and rather woody tasting.

For the last two years I have been using Kelvedon Wonder as they produce lots of good sized pods and can be harvested from as early as June with the same set of plants continuing to crop (albeit more sporadically) through to September. Through trial and error I have worked out how to plant this particular variety in rotation and this year have had fresh peas since the end of June, with more flowering and podding each week.

You can plant your pea seeds directly into well prepared soil, preferably with some manure or compost bin compost dug through a couple of months before sowing. Personally I prefer to start them off in peat pots or seed trays and transplant them into their growing positions once the seedlings are three or four inches high. I find this gives a much more consistent result when the plants really start growing. I do recommend peat pots despite the initial expense of around £3 per 24 pots, you can buy them cheaper but do remember that peas have particularly long and fragile roots so you ideally need to buy peat pots that have a little extra depth than the standard size. Using peat pots means you don't have to handle the roots of the pea seedlings when you are transplanting them; you simply dig a hole and plant the pot, as it's made of peat it will rot down in the damp soil and save your delicate seedlings unnecessary stress.

The main advice I can give you for when you come to choose your pea seeds is to read the packet. It will tell you the recommended sowing times, whether the specific variety needs any special care, the crop you can expect and the final height of the plant. This is more important than you may think as some modern varieties can grown to 6ft tall and this will naturally put much of your garden in shade, peas grow to full height relatively quickly so if you opt for a particularly tall variety then you'll need to be careful what you grow nearby as tall pea plants cast very heavy shadows and can stunt the growth of sunlight loving plants.

While I have come to love Kelvedon Wonder, one area of my garden is set aside for Ambassador peas. The reasoning behind this is that although peas will grow in most soils, they don't take too well to a clay consistency. However, I discovered some years ago that Ambassador Garden Pea seeds seem to flourish in the heavy clay soil (mud, to all intents and purposes) that lies at the back of my shed. This is a large strip of land which catches the sun beautifully, the soil is just appalling. These conditions seem to suit Ambassador peas wonderfully and although the peas aren't as flavoursome and sweet as other varieties, they are deliciously fresh and are ready for picking in just a few weeks.

You have to play it by ear when it comes to watering and feeding. Peas can tolerate a lot of watering when planted into the open ground, but do take care not to waterlog them while in pots or tray and ensure any pot has plenty of drainage. The type of soil in your garden will obviously greatly affect how frequently you need to water or feed your pea plants. I rarely feed them unless they are looking as though they need a little something and usually just sprinkle the odd supplement of compost bin compost around the growing plants from time to time.

When deciding where you are going to plant your seedlings you'll need to remember that eventually your pea plants are going to need some support. My Kelvedon Wonder peas only grow to around 2ft in height so normal garden canes are fine, I prefer to use the thicker unpainted bamboo canes which I arrange in a trellis effect around the seedlings. This allows the pea to move more freely as it grows and it becomes quickly accustomed to clinging to it's supporting cane. The best way I find is to check how tall the packet says your plants will end up and put supports in at half this height, replacing them with taller canes as needed. This is for purely aesthetic reasons as I hate the sight of canes that are ridiculously long for it's plant!

The majority of pea varieties are best picked while still small and immature as this will provide a fresher, sweeter flavour both when cooked and raw. The problem I find is forcing myself to stop eating them as they are shelling the peas and I have been known to end up with just two solitary portions of peas for a dinner from a quarter of my crop! Good peas can be eaten (nay, are BEST eaten) straight from their pods while watching television - and they honestly do taste better than fat and sugar laden munchies, although you probably won't believe that!

If you happen to get a glut of peas they do freeze exceedingly well. Blanch and cool them as quickly after picking as possible; to do this place the peas into vigorously boiling water and allow to boil for 1 ½ minutes., quickly drain and plunge into a bowl of iced water. Drain again, divide into portion sized airtight containers and freeze. The whole process takes less than ten minutes and the peas can then be cooked from frozen or allowed to defrost, they lose very little of their natural flavour and are surely better than frozen peas that (however good they taste) have been transported for miles before ending up in your freezer.

In all honesty you probably will only get a glut if you don't rotate your planting. Peas will freeze for successfully for some time. Forget all that one month nonsense, I often use my own grown peas on Christmas dinner that were harvested as early as September. By rotating your plantings you will eventually be able to obtain ongoing peas for your daily use as well as the odd couple of handfuls to freeze. Unless you have a huge garden that you are prepared to dedicate purely to peas then you are unlikely to become self sufficient with the vegetable, especially if you eat them most days as I do. The pods may look huge but you do need lots and lots of those pods for an average family dinner, I don't want to give my entire growing space up to peas as I have a few vegetables which I no longer need to buy from the supermarket now and to give them up would be a fools errand considering I'll never catch up with my own pea consumption!

They're fun to grow though and sometimes I do think that is the main thing. It's a relatively cheap vegetable to grow with initial costs for a decent sized crop being starting at less than £5 as seeds are reasonably priced and basic seed trays are available throughout the summer in Poundland. Of course costs rise depending on how much you are prepared to spend, the only 'luxury' buy I'd recommend is the peat pots and everything else feel free to buy from Pound land - including compost at the moment as I noticed yesterday.

A pea plant is ideal for children to grow as seedlings start to poke through quickly after planting and most varieties grow very quickly initially. They also need watering regularly if in trays so youngsters can really get involved in the care of their plant. My granddaughter is currently growing nine pea plants spread out over three deep troughs, they are just beginning to pod and it looks like she is going to get a very healthy return for her efforts. Hers is the Misty variety which I've never come across before but is very attractive to look at and seems to be producing long thick pods. This just goes to show that anyone can grow peas, even if you don't have available space for a vegetable patch you can pot some up in troughs or any deep container and watch them flourish.

Summary: Peas: one of the easiest vegetable plants to grow in your garden.