pea advice

[JO,JO]

hi i have i wonder if anybody has got a bit of advice reagrding the growing of peas,i have just had two raised beds put on the sunny side of my long and narrow garden to grow veg in,the space in between them is really sunny so i thought of growing peas and mange tout which i have in the green house they are ready to plant out i think as they are 4 inch tall the peas are feltham first the mange tout is not ready to put out yet i think? i dont like broad beans i have also just sown kelvedon wonder which is no supposed to grow any higher than 60cm and a yellow dwarf french been called longhorn wax can i grow them all together? what king of support could i construct as i cannot use the fence due to nieghbour being funny,i thought of putting a row of canes then threading netting through them,has anyone got any advice or tips,i tried to grow peas last year but they all got eaten think i put them out when they were too small and didi not protect them i was going too put plastic bottles over them till they got bigger

sorry for rambling on

[ChocClare]

Hi Jojo, I'm just about to put out my Feltham First peas too. It says on the packet they don't need much support and last year I made a wigwam of canes and wrapped (bought) netting around them for the peas to grow up. They didn't grow very tall so I didn't need the full height of the canes in the end. All the traditional blurb always says use pea sticks and you can use any twiggy sticks for the peas. Silver birch is apparently one of the best ones and is easier to find than hazel, which is another fave. Given all the winds we've had recently you could probably find appropriate twiggy sticks 2-3' high in your local park or wood just lying about the place!
You shouldn't need any support for the kinghorn wax beans - they don't grow high at all. However, I would say it's MUCH too early for them - I don't usually get beans out till May at the earliest.
You can bung 'em all in together, but I think the peas (at least the ones you put in now) will be more-or-less over by the time the beans go in, unless you're doing successional sowing. Mine were certainly right next to each other last year and no-one actually died as a result... The trouble with putting plastic bottles over peas is that they can't really grab hold of everything - you can always cut a "collar" out of a plastic bottle to protect the bottom, though it won't stop those evil slugs and snails attacking the top.
Hope this is of some help, anway!

[zazen999]

I've put broadies, kelvedon peas and cherokee beans out [about 4 of each], but they are currently being protected by an upside down clear plastic storage box. When it warms up to above freezing at night, I'll take that off and pop a few cane wigwams up for them.

The key to long seasons is sowing every few weeks, so get some more sown for the next batch.

[JO,JO]

thanks for the tips i will sow some more peas in a few weeks

[Alice]

Jojo, for support for the peas I just put double canes at each end of the row and tie string to them so that the peas grow between the strings. They don't need much support. I find if netting is used they get all tangled up.

[janeyo]

I thought I could put peas straight in the ground?
Is it better to start them off first?
In a cold frame? Or on the windowsill?
Not quite finished the bed they and the beans will go in so prob still got time to start some off.

thanks

[lottielady]

Have you tried starting peas off in lengths of guttering I have done this for the first time this year as my peas were useless last year, the first lot have gone into the ground today supported by twiggy sticks found in the local woods. I have the next lot just popping up in the greenhouse for a few weeks time. There are threads somewhere on here recently about peas and hardening off. Good luck

[Flummery]

You can start them directly in the ground. The reason many people don't is that mice and voles and such find them totally delicious (just like we do) and dig up and eat the seeds before they even sprout. I start mine in modules and plant out at aout 4" high - then I only have to net against pigeons!

[janeyo]

Right next job on my list is to start off some peas and beans. Will put them in the cold frame and see what happens. We do get mice although one of my cats helps to reduce the numbers and loads of pigeons so will let them get big enough then plant out with maybe a plastic bottle on them.

Thanks

janeyo