We have grown 'canoe' for the last 5 years, I guess it's down to personal choice about what anyone likes, two years ago they were not available,but are back again now.
Artjak, my guess would be mice, pigeons or other vermin eating the seeds before or soon after they have germinated. I had little luck with peas until I started sowing them in root trainers, then planting out later when they had grown a few inches tall.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Can also be grown inside in lengths of guttering and then slid into a purpose dug trench in garden when several inches high. Might still need protection against pigeons .
Last year I borrowed gutter from neighbour, theirs were germinating well in polytunnel, mine did not germinate so well in new greenhouse but those that did I planted out and nothing much happened. Is there some way that I should be preparing the soil for them? We do have a lot of pigeons around here, but they mostly feed from what is dropped on the ground from the bird feeders; about 25metres from the veg beds.
Use decent soil or compost,water well before planting,and water gently thereafter - peas should germinate easily in greenhouse,but perhaps leave out a humane mousetrap (which catches the mouse but doesn't kill it - you can,if like my sister who can't kill anything, release it in the wild - but at least quarter of a mile away or it may return!) - I occasionally get a mouse in my greenhouse and he would make inroads on tender pea shoots or seeds given the chance! Pigeons are different altogether - if they have an alternative food source, like your feeder droppings, they may well stick with it, but when they discover an new source of food, such as your peas, or my sprouts at the allotment, they will go mad for it, and the crop can virtually disappear in a few days. My peas suffered from pigeons last year as I was away for a few days when they came up, and I had forgotten to net them! Never underestimate pigeons - they are pretty thick and slow to find food sources, but when they do - watch out!
No, I don't quit. Mice are usually dead in trap when I find them (funny humane killer) so they're binned, and crops at the allotment are normally netted but need to check nets after heavy winds - pigeons not a problem if you keep aware. The 'old boys' up there want to shoot the pigeons but Council have banned that under by-laws so there is much grumbling and moaning. My neighbour contents himself by trapping pheasants and roasting them! Only pest that we struggle with are the muntjac deer - if they find something tasty then they're difficult to stop. Impossible to stop are the odd light fingered humans who pass in the night! Still, all part of life's rich tapestry and never a dull moment.
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We have grown 'canoe' for the last 5 years, I guess it's down to personal choice about what anyone likes, two years ago they were not available,but are back again now.
I have tried to grow peas for about 6 years here in the Fens and never grown a single one. Don't have many probs with other veg.
Artjak, my guess would be mice, pigeons or other vermin eating the seeds before or soon after they have germinated. I had little luck with peas until I started sowing them in root trainers, then planting out later when they had grown a few inches tall.
Last year I borrowed gutter from neighbour, theirs were germinating well in polytunnel, mine did not germinate so well in new greenhouse but those that did I planted out and nothing much happened. Is there some way that I should be preparing the soil for them? We do have a lot of pigeons around here, but they mostly feed from what is dropped on the ground from the bird feeders; about 25metres from the veg beds.
Netting should always be checked every day to ensure small birds are not entangled - nothing to do with whether it is secured properly or not.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.