I always seem to lose the Autumn peas to mice and voles. Cats to keen on staying indoors in Winter! So have given that up. Now start when sun warms my back in early April or this year earlier this week as such a mild Winter. Boots the Bengal (Cat) catching 6-8 voles a week and 2-3 mice a day at the moment. So everything is coming out of hibernation I think.
I sowed my pea seeds yesterday indoors. As soon as they get 10cm tall they will go outside (after a week of hardenning off). I trust nothing nowadays to the munching, crunching teeth of slugs.
I always start my peas off by soaking them overnight and sowing them in small pots of seed and potting compost. had very bad results in 2023 from direct sowing so never again.
I am in the north east but have always sown early peas early April. I sow Meteor or Feltham first but I sprout them first by putting them in a polythene bag of moist potting compost. When I see good roots I plant out into the garden. So far I have
I can't sow direct cos of mice, so always start in frame. Squidgy, I used to live in Chorley, and would have put mine out by now down there, but it is the drying winds that I try to avoid here.(Ayrshire, Scotland) Harden them of just for a few days and get them out without potting on. Less messing, and peas are very hardy. once mine germinate, they will be chucked out of the CF, then planted up once big enough to withstand the odd slug nibble. But still give slug protection if you are botheresd much by them. A good post is the Sweet Pea one. David tells time and time again to treat them hard, and peas come into the same category. Get em out and make room for other stuff needing their space. I treat all of my plants as hard as poss from as young as poss, only using heat for germination or cuttings. Once 60-80% have germinated in the propagator, they come out. At first with a cover into GH or conservatory, then the lid comes off, then a few days later they are out but lid back on if frost. Only the toms and peppers get to stay indoors, and some of them go out as soon as poss if they are destined to grow outside.
Having said that, my tender fuchsias never dropped thier leaves in an unheated gh this yr. It has been a very mild winter, and still is mostly mild now. chuck em out! But be ready with a bit of fleece if we should get a proper frost. Normally you would need to harden off for longer, but I'm going to wing it this yr and chuck em straight out into my warmed beds. Sow more now for a continuous supply, and only chuck half out if you are worried. Nowt lost, excepting mice you can sow direct now.
Peas are easy, wait till bean time. They can be fussy! You will need to be a little nicer to them!
Oh I love peas, I got an old pack of hurst greenshaft off my parents last year with about 6 peas left in it, all 6 germinated and I saved a few of the nicer pods for peas this year. Gave them a germination test run in january and all 4 germinated and I had pea tops in my salad that month, YUM.
Planted new seeds out in that plastic dolls house I call a greenhouse last week and they are just starting to push the soil from below. I decided to forgo using loo rolls this year due to the mould issue they caused last year and am using plastic party cups for the peas. Used these for the sweetcorn last year and it did brilliantly. Currently in Manchester, Lancashire
Sowed peas according to Lunar Calender this year (See gardening by the moon thread) - First batch up and growing well. Second crop have just sprouted bang on time. But oh - what do we do with those d--- slugs?!!! 2 hedgehogs in the garden so slug pellets a 'no no' Beer seems to work, but not in the correct way - The slugs and snails just get fatter and greedier!!! Eggshells are totally ignored, and as for copper rings, they're totally ignored Can slugs jump?? They seem to get inside the ring and leap up the stalks of these poor unsuspecting peas!
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I always seem to lose the Autumn peas to mice and voles. Cats to keen on staying indoors in Winter! So have given that up. Now start when sun warms my back in early April or this year earlier this week as such a mild Winter. Boots the Bengal (Cat) catching 6-8 voles a week and 2-3 mice a day at the moment. So everything is coming out of hibernation I think.
I sowed my pea seeds yesterday indoors. As soon as they get 10cm tall they will go outside (after a week of hardenning off). I trust nothing nowadays to the munching, crunching teeth of slugs.
I always start my peas off by soaking them overnight and sowing them in small pots of seed and potting compost. had very bad results in 2023 from direct sowing so never again.
Mine getting started tomorrow in CF away from those mice, then out as soon as big enough. All in paper pots so not much messing.
No expert, I hope I get better results than you. Don't want to wait till 2023 for my peas!
always had good results.
That should be 2012. Must wear the specs more often. I sowed another dozen peas, Kelvedon Wonder, today. 11 of the last 12 sprouted.
I can't sow direct cos of mice, so always start in frame. Squidgy, I used to live in Chorley, and would have put mine out by now down there, but it is the drying winds that I try to avoid here.(Ayrshire, Scotland) Harden them of just for a few days and get them out without potting on. Less messing, and peas are very hardy. once mine germinate, they will be chucked out of the CF, then planted up once big enough to withstand the odd slug nibble. But still give slug protection if you are botheresd much by them. A good post is the Sweet Pea one. David tells time and time again to treat them hard, and peas come into the same category. Get em out and make room for other stuff needing their space. I treat all of my plants as hard as poss from as young as poss, only using heat for germination or cuttings. Once 60-80% have germinated in the propagator, they come out. At first with a cover into GH or conservatory, then the lid comes off, then a few days later they are out but lid back on if frost. Only the toms and peppers get to stay indoors, and some of them go out as soon as poss if they are destined to grow outside.
Having said that, my tender fuchsias never dropped thier leaves in an unheated gh this yr. It has been a very mild winter, and still is mostly mild now. chuck em out! But be ready with a bit of fleece if we should get a proper frost. Normally you would need to harden off for longer, but I'm going to wing it this yr and chuck em straight out into my warmed beds. Sow more now for a continuous supply, and only chuck half out if you are worried. Nowt lost, excepting mice you can sow direct now.
Peas are easy, wait till bean time. They can be fussy! You will need to be a little nicer to them!
Noexpert
!
thanks for all you help i have planted them out and also sown some more outside so lets see how i get on
Oh I love peas, I got an old pack of hurst greenshaft off my parents last year with about 6 peas left in it, all 6 germinated and I saved a few of the nicer pods for peas this year. Gave them a germination test run in january and all 4 germinated and I had pea tops in my salad that month, YUM.
Planted new seeds out in that plastic dolls house I call a greenhouse last week and they are just starting to push the soil from below. I decided to forgo using loo rolls this year due to the mould issue they caused last year and am using plastic party cups for the peas. Used these for the sweetcorn last year and it did brilliantly. Currently in Manchester, Lancashire
Sowed peas according to Lunar Calender this year (See gardening by the moon thread) - First batch up and growing well. Second crop have just sprouted bang on time. But oh - what do we do with those d--- slugs?!!! 2 hedgehogs in the garden so slug pellets a 'no no' Beer seems to work, but not in the correct way - The slugs and snails just get fatter and greedier!!! Eggshells are totally ignored, and as for copper rings, they're totally ignored Can slugs jump?? They seem to get inside the ring and leap up the stalks of these poor unsuspecting peas!