I totally agree @fidgetbones … having been involved in the growing of many acres of legumes, I’ve never ever seen a need for additional bacteria. Good husbandry of the soil is all that’s needed.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dovefromabove given they are started in doors in seed starting soil they would likely be no of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. since it is usually sterile to prevent damp off.
No one has mentioned using bought seed compost … the replies to the query mainly recommend direct sowing for peas.
I don’t sow my peas inside … there is no need here … but when I start my runner beans in pots in a cold frame I use a mix of loamy soil from the veg patch and home made garden compost … plenty of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in that for my beans 😊
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have to sow all of my legumes indoors because mice eat them just as they begin to sprout if grown outdoors. I start them off in an unheated double glazed conservatory, so cool, usually 4 to a pot and plant them out when growing strongly. I started off 30 odd sweet peas last year, put them outside one warm day to start hardening off, forgot to bring them in, the next day every single stem had been chewed through at soil level and the seed removed. There was a tiny hole beside each non plant where mice had dug them up.
No … I’d sow them now … either in pots and keep in a coldframe or somewhere sheltered outside, or sow direct in the garden if you don’t have a problem with fieldmice.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
No - I can't see that being a problem if they're healthy. I used to plant out mine at this time of year no problem. Sown indoors to avoid being eaten, and for weather etc, and planted out at around the same time as the sweet peas etc, - mid May or thereabouts. I think I sometimes sowed a few direct now and again at the same time, as back up, but in pots. Mine were always in pots, but I'd expect they'd come on even quicker in the ground.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Not sugar snap, but I am currently using onward peas in an experiment, the first were sown indoors in a heated prop with 100 percent germination. I then sowed seeds from the same packet in the same compost from the same bag in the cool greenhouse and got about 80 percent germination. The seeds sown directly in the ground are less than 50 percent germination, so the conclusion is that in my garden the pea seeds need a bit more attention than just planting them in the ground.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dovefromabove given they are started in doors in seed starting soil they would likely be no of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. since it is usually sterile to prevent damp off.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I started off 30 odd sweet peas last year, put them outside one warm day to start hardening off, forgot to bring them in, the next day every single stem had been chewed through at soil level and the seed removed. There was a tiny hole beside each non plant where mice had dug them up.
now … either in pots and keep in a coldframe or somewhere sheltered outside, or sow direct in the garden if you don’t have a problem with fieldmice.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I used to plant out mine at this time of year no problem. Sown indoors to avoid being eaten, and for weather etc, and planted out at around the same time as the sweet peas etc, - mid May or thereabouts. I think I sometimes sowed a few direct now and again at the same time, as back up, but in pots.
Mine were always in pots, but I'd expect they'd come on even quicker in the ground.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...