It is difficult to beat a frozen pea if you are faced with total loss as above.
I grow mangetout sown in a section of guttering each year filled with multipurpose. These are allowed to germinate and grow until about 4 inches high in my greenhouse. Then hardened off, before sliding out of the guttering into their alloted position in the allotment. These are covered with fine mesh to keep the birds away. The empty guttering is refilled and the process is repeated . So we get to pick mangetout throughout the summer. If too many they are frozen for the winter.
This method can be employed for ordinary peas, but dwarf varieties are better if you only have small in height cloches.
There is nothing to beat a fresh young pea, eaten raw from the pod, you can't experience it unless you grow it. Worth any of the bothers of growing peas. But if you want something with hardly any waste then I recommend mange-tout peas (really good in stir fries) and runner beans.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I cheated last year and got seedlings from the Victorian nursery on line, 12 plants where enough for 2 of us for 2 months of a little treat at tea time and bonus reward when watering! The only problem was finding canes big enough they grew over 7ft tall! Not sure on the variety but they where a heritage variety and proper tasty, I also did bingo from seed as a back up, not as good but still tasty.
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It is difficult to beat a frozen pea if you are faced with total loss as above.
I grow mangetout sown in a section of guttering each year filled with multipurpose. These are allowed to germinate and grow until about 4 inches high in my greenhouse. Then hardened off, before sliding out of the guttering into their alloted position in the allotment. These are covered with fine mesh to keep the birds away. The empty guttering is refilled and the process is repeated . So we get to pick mangetout throughout the summer. If too many they are frozen for the winter.
This method can be employed for ordinary peas, but dwarf varieties are better if you only have small in height cloches.
There is nothing to beat a fresh young pea, eaten raw from the pod, you can't experience it unless you grow it. Worth any of the bothers of growing peas. But if you want something with hardly any waste then I recommend mange-tout peas (really good in stir fries) and runner beans.