Peas

Ease of Growing [Scale 1-5] - 1 (Easy)

How Time Consuming

Very little time needed apart from watering at pertinent times and providing support when seedlings are 10cm (4” high) with pea sticks or netting for the tendrils to attach to.

Recommended Varieties

• Douce Provence – Early variety, can be sown in Autumn as an over-wintering variety, or sown from Feb under protection for an early crop.  Virtually no support.
• Ambassador AGM – Second early-main crop variety.  Sow between March – July harvested 10 weeks later.  Resistant to powdery mildew.  Semi leafless for easy picking of pods! 
• Rondo – Main crop variety.  Long green pods, each pod contains approx. 10 peas and taste superb.  Great to sow in Spring maturing in 60 days.  High yielding variety.  

Home Grown Vs Supermarket

Peas are best eaten as fresh as possible because as soon as they are picked the sugars start turning to starch – we’ve all had, large, dry peas from the supermarket haven’t we!

Best Sites and Soils

Peas like rich, moisture retentive soil and will benefit from soil that has been enriched with well-rotted manure.  Peas dislike hot weather and do not need to be planted in full sun.

When to sow

Sow from Mar-Jul under cover in modules. By carefully selecting different varieties and successional sowing it is possible to enjoy peas from early summer to early autumn.
Distance between rows - Sow in double rows 30cm/12” apart.
Distance between plants - 15cm/6” apart

When to harvest

Harvest the peas when they still have room to swell, not at bursting point.  They will be much sweeter than if you leave them to get bigger. 

Problems to look out for:

Birds and mice will be keen to tuck into your young pea plants.  At Stephanie's Kitchen Garden we surround the crop with a fence of chicken wire to prevent pests from gaining access.