Pea's please (Garden Pea)

Member Name: kimking

Product:	Garden Pea
Date:	21/04/04 (499 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty

Disadvantages: none

In my view there is nothing to beat fresh veggies picked straight from the plant at the time you prepare your meal, then cooked and eaten within an hour or so. This way nothing is lost either in goodness or in taste, frozen veg no matter how expertly frozen can never match the taste or quality of freshly grown and harvested. This in my mind makes the small amount of work involved well worth the effort. One of my favourites for my small garden is the humble pea, useful in so many meals from the tasty stir fry to the glorious Sunday roast.

The garden pea has been a favourite for centuries and has a good food value, among other things it contains vitamins A, B and C also calcium and iron in small quantities. The most popular type for growing is ?early onward? these are the ones I grow in my garden.

Peas are very easy to grow and can be sown from early March though until mid June in well cultivated soil, they grow best in a nice sunny position and will need to be supported with either canes, a net or such. As they grow the plants will shoot out little grabbers to cling to their support, you will need to help these little grabbers get a hold of their support to begin with.

I find it best to sow a few at a time at two weekly intervals throughout the season so that way you get a good full crop over the summer months. They work well being sown straight into the soil but can be started off in small pots or seed trays either in the greenhouse or on a window sill.

If you do plant them out, they will need to be planted 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart, you must also leave approximately 24 inches between the rows and must be watered in as soon as you?ve finished planting.

There are a few common ailments that can affect the plants, I have only found two which have been a bother to me in all the years I have been growing them, the first is white pow
dery patches that can appear on the pods and the leaves which looks like and is a form of mildew. This happens in very sheltered gardens like mine but can be avoided by being sure your plants are well watered and if you do see any signs of this a little spray with Benlate (available from any garden centre) and repeated fortnightly should solve the problem.

My second and biggest pest is my son Adam who has a liking for eating them straight from the pod with out cooking, as soon as the pods are of a descent size, he can be found sitting in the garden looking very guilty with a bundle of empty pods at his feet, I have tried many things to combat this pest but nothing seems to work, even my local garden centre could not help.

Once your Peas are grown sometimes it can hard to know exactly when they are ready to be picked as the pods often swell before the peas inside do, I find the best way to tell is by gently tapping the pods, if they rattle then the peas inside are not big enough. Once the peas become big enough to pick it is in your best interest to pick regularly as the more you pick the more will grow, this is Adams favourite excuse.

Growing peas is something I do every year, I find the benefit makes all the work worth it even if is just to see Adam busy enjoying his self out in the fresh air (as long as he leaves some for me of course). Peas freeze very well and are in fact the only frozen veg I like but you just can?t beat that straight from the plant and into the pot flavour.

I do hope those of you with a garden will try growing your own, thanks for reading.

Kim.

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