Used to have good luck with kelveden wonder, not so good last year, this year I grew blauwschokker (dont laugh at his point!) because the flowers are beautiful mauve/purple, purple pods, it was a good cropper. In the ground, direct sowing, there is a saying "one for the rook one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow. I use window sill propogators, with little cells, a couple in each cell, lip on tight in the greenhouse, until the grow too tall for it, because ms mousey ate all my first sowings!
I had a very poor show from peas this year. I'm also in Devon, though at rather higher altitude than you, I think. I did the usual things I do with peas - start some in my little polytunnel in October and nurse them into quite big plants - two to a 3 inch pot - by February and plant them out - they are normally about 6 inches tall at that stage. Then came The Beast. Then we were right in the middle of that 'red zone' of snow and what didn't freeze to death got broken off. I tried a later sowing but it got too hot too fast and they just bolted. So it's possible that the particular climate we had in our part of the world - mild in Feb, insanely cold in March, dry as a bone by May - didn't suit peas. (As a side note, I treat broad beans much the same way as peas and they were fine).
It's hard, in the early years of growing, to separate one's own mistakes from general bad weather or bad seeds. You get more confident as you go and start to recognise 'normal' when you see it.
I grow 'Oskar' a short very early type and 'Lord Leicester' a tall pea as a rule with usually a petit pois, or a sugar snap or a mange tout depending what catches my eye. The first two come from a company called 'Real Seeds', the others from one of a number of different catalogues I browse at this time of year.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I rate germinating on damp kitchen roll and then planting in toilet roll tubes before planting out when the roots are coming out the bottom. The early one's do well like early onwards, also Douce Province and meteor.
Once you've found a good one, save the seeds for the following year. They eventually become climatized to your soil and grow better.
I have tried Hurst Green shaft and Kelvedon wonder but tend to go back to Early Onward.. I have had trouble with poor germination and mice eating them.. So I will be germinating indoors this time and not putting them out until a decent size this time..
Similar to Skandi, we have no success with direct sowing outdoors. Our tried and trusted method is to start them off in late March on the conservatory windowsills. Have never bothered soaking them though, pop them in straight from the packet.
We plant in loo roll inners, filled with ordinary MPC. Can fit approx six tubes in a mushroom tray. Two seeds per tube, water and wait. Plant them out tubes 'n' all (less root disturbance) when they're a good size, weather dependant.
Varieties... Didn't have much luck with Klevedon Wonder when we tried it a few years back. Good ones that work well for us are... 'Early Onward', always reliable germination with plenty of pods. 'Alderman', another good cropper and grows quite tall. One year it outgrew it's 6ft high frame and I had to put in extra canes to support the top growth.
Have bought a couple of new varieties to try in 2019. 'Douce Provence' and a mangetout 'Norli'.
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Ah yes, northern Spain!
It's hard, in the early years of growing, to separate one's own mistakes from general bad weather or bad seeds. You get more confident as you go and start to recognise 'normal' when you see it.
I grow 'Oskar' a short very early type and 'Lord Leicester' a tall pea as a rule with usually a petit pois, or a sugar snap or a mange tout depending what catches my eye. The first two come from a company called 'Real Seeds', the others from one of a number of different catalogues I browse at this time of year.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Once you've found a good one, save the seeds for the following year. They eventually become climatized to your soil and grow better.
We plant in loo roll inners, filled with ordinary MPC. Can fit approx six tubes in a mushroom tray. Two seeds per tube, water and wait.
Plant them out tubes 'n' all (less root disturbance) when they're a good size, weather dependant.
Varieties... Didn't have much luck with Klevedon Wonder when we tried it a few years back.
Good ones that work well for us are...
'Early Onward', always reliable germination with plenty of pods.
'Alderman', another good cropper and grows quite tall. One year it outgrew it's 6ft high frame and I had to put in extra canes to support the top growth.
Have bought a couple of new varieties to try in 2019.
'Douce Provence' and a mangetout 'Norli'.