Mushy Peas (Garden Pea)

Member Name: Aspen

Product:	Garden Pea
Date:	28/07/01 (391 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: As with all veg, fresh from the garden is unbeatable.

Disadvantages: May require excessive quantities if bog-roll innards.

Well, it’s been a long time. I can’t believe I last wrote an op on 31st May.

But I'm still here. I haven't gone to the great compost heap in the sky. Nor, indeed to the great garden bonfire tended by auldmac - sorry, Auld Nick.

Time flies in the high-tech, state-of-the-art world of horticulture. (Digging and mowing, OK?)


And the biggest problem I’ve had with this one, is – a plethora of potential pea puns for a title. On the strength of which, I nearly called it “Alliteration”. Although obviously, onomato–pea–eia would have been smarter, if I could have worked it out with a pencil. Or is that a different old joke altogether?

Enough. Please join me in being serious, briefly.


GENERAL CULTIVATION

In even the smallest vegetable plot, it is wise to practice crop rotation. This avoids the build-up of pests and diseases, and contributes greatly to soil fertility. Peas have a very important role to play in crop rotation, as they, along with all the members of the bean family (excluding the Rowan . . . sorry, no more Mr Bean jokes), are legumes. Legumes are nitrogen-fixers.

Which is to say that, while most crops, particularly leafy crops like brassicas (cabbages, etc), take vast quantities of nitrogen from the soil, legumes actually manufacture nitrogen and put it back. Ergo, in crop rotation, plant your cabbages this year, where your peas and beans were last year. Simple.

Opinions vary, as always in horticulture where everyone’s an expert! But I find my peas do best in a heavily manured soil. And I mean, manure. Not nice, clean, off-the-shelf-in-plastic-bags artificial fertiliser. Real manure, from real farm-yard animals. Lovely stuff. It has to be mature, though. It must pass the finger test. Pick it up, crumble it in your hand, and it should trickle nicely through your fingers. If it’s a gooey mess, and takes three hours to
wash off, it’s not ready, and you’ve probably contracted some unmentionable disease.

Dig some of the good stuff in in the Autumn. The winter frosts will help to break it down.


SOWING

Basically, there are two approaches. And I would advise you to do both.

1. Sow seed in individual cells under glass (greenhouse, conservatory, windowsill). Deep cells are essential, as peas are deep-rooting. Buy sweet-pea cells or root-trainers. But – now, listen – the DIY option is to save the inner cardboard bits from your toilet rolls. Set them on end (obviously) in a seed tray, fill them with compost, and sow two peas in each. Yes, two, so that you can nip out the weaker of the pair, or at least you’ll have one, if only fifty per cent germinate. There’s nothing more disheartening than a lovingly-filled bog-roll full of compost, and nothing growing in it!

Grow on, harden off, plant out.

2. Sow directly outdoors, by taking out a drill approximately one inch deep by six to eight inches wide (or 1” x 6 – 8”, if you insist on going metric). Sow your peas in a staggered row, 2 – 3" apart. But be prepared. Plan this the night before, and give them an overnight soak in water. Speeds up germination no end!


GROWING

Even dwarf varieties need support. The traditional method is twiggy sticks. Of which more in a mo. But you can use garden canes and a tangle of string. Or chicken wire. Or you can go berserk and buy plastic pea support from the Garden Centre. Which you can only use for one year. ‘Cos the peas get so entwined, there’s no way you can clean it up and use it again next year. So you end up burning the lot in the autumn. And buy more next year. And the Garden Centres just love you!

But if you have willow or dogwood in your garden, cut some small branches from these and use as pea supports. And by the end of the seaso
n, most will have rooted. So not only do you have free pea support, you have free plants as well. (That’s the Aberdonian kicking in again.)


VARIETIES

Early peas can be sown successionally, ie a little at a time at 3 or 4 week intervals.

Good varieties to try are Kelvedon Wonder, Eary Onward, or Feltham First.

Main crop varieties take longer to mature, and are best sown in bulk, then picked for the freezer.

My maincrop favourites are Hurst Green Shaft, Onward, or Senator.

Or try sugar snap peas – the cultivation is exactly the same.


BUT HAVE YOU TRIED?

Growing peas up the same trellis as your sweet peas, or your honeysuckle, or your clematis? They don’t have to be in the vegetable garden.

Growing peas on the patio? Try some of the dwarf varieties in a big pot, and grow them up a bamboo cane wigwam.


ARE YOU TOO LATE?

No. There is still time to sow an early variety (they mature faster), to give you a young, succulent crop in the autumn. Successional sowing – that’s the secret to a long cropping period.


So there you have it.

A serious opinion on peas from Aspen.

With not a urine-related pun in sight.


But I couldn’t resist this PS.


P(ea) S. Hurst Green Shaft gazed longingly into the eyes of Kelvedon Wonder. ”Your pods are so long and sensuous,” he breathed. “Let us ( lettuce(!) ) entwine our tendrils, and cross pollinate for ever and ever.”

- Mushy Peas!

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