OREGON SUGAR POD, Mange ToutThis is the easy way to grow peas, without the time consuming removal of the pod, and they taste great. This excellent sugar pea has long fleshy pods and the distinctive sweet flavour. These are popular with children, especially when they’ve helped to grow them first and are great on their own, in salads and in stir fries.
£1.25 per pack (app. 150 seeds)
A sweet, long pea with an excellent flavour containing up to 10 peas per pod. This variety show some resistance to problems such as downy mildew and fusarium wilt. It grows from 75cm-1m tall, and has a good yield at the top of the plant, which means less bending to collect the crop.
99p per pack (app. 150 seeds)
This yellow sugar pod is an attractive variety, though not such a prolific cropper as the Oregon (above), but still good, and very sweet. Nial has grew this in the garden last year and (with my help) collected the seeds to re-sow this year. Nial is my 9 year old son who grows on his own patch and he has packaged 15 seed packs of his seeds for 40p each. Limited availability.
You can visit Nial's blog here, he will be posting alot more soon to help other children. Click here for the Poddington Peas song.
GROW PEAS
Preparation
Choose a sheltered, sunny spot. Prepare the soil by digging it over well and adding compost.
Sowing: Mar-Jun
Do not sow in cold, wet soil, as seeds can rot. To sow, dig a flat bottomed trench 5cm deep and about 20-25cm wide, using a fork to loosen the soil underneath. Water till moist, then sow the seeds about 7.5cm apart in two or three rows, pressing them gently into the soil, then cover with the removed soil and gently firm down. If you need another trench, space it 1m from the previous one. Sow mange tout seeds every 10-14 days for a good succession of crops. Protect from slugs and rodents.
Growing and Harvesting
As the plants begin to grow they need to be supported with twigs, canes, trellis or chicken wire. Water well at the roots through dry periods. To protect from the pea-moth cover the crop with a fine mesh. To maintain sweetness, eat as soon as possible after picking. Pick podding peas when they are well filled, mange tout just as the peas begin to swell. Pick regularly, and begin at the bottom and work upwards. You can also pick and eat young shoots.
Podding Pea Harvest Times
11-13 weeks for earlies
13-14 weeks for second earlies
app. 16 weeks for maincrop
