ONE TO TRY PEA 'Valido'

Home-grown peas are one of the delights of the veg patch. This season KG editor Steve Ott has been trying maincrop pea 'Valido' from Johnsons Seeds to see how it performed

- Steve Ott

I love peas, but don’t have loads of space to grow them so the variety needs to be both compact and productive. ‘Valido’ from Johnsons Seeds promised to be both of these things so I decided to give it a go.

This variety is a maincrop which can be sown from March to June for harvesting from late May to September and is said to have really good resistance to powdery mildew. This means that it should be good for later harvests when the disease is prevalent and often brings a premature end to pea crops.

SOWING

I sowed my peas on March 7 in guttering sections filled with a peat-free multi-purpose compost. Growing in guttering avoids root disturbance when planting and can be cut to a length to match your raised beds. The seeds were sown in three staggered rows in the guttering so that they were about 5cm (2in) apart and covered with 13mm (½in) of compost. They were then placed on the greenhouse bench in a frost-free greenhouse with a minimum night temperature of 7C (45F).

Germination was fairly rapid considering the time of year and temperature, with virtually all the seeds germinating within about 14 days. The young plants were allowed to grow on until well established with just regular watering when the compost started to dry out.

PLANTING