EXTENDING THE SEASON WITH PEAS

By choosing the right varieties, you can be cropping peas both early and late. Top advice from gardening expert and KG regular Martin Fish

- Martin Fish

There’s no doubt that peas picked straight from the garden and eaten fresh while still sweet are absolutely delicious. In fact, when I’m picking them from the garden, quite a few of the pods never make it to the kitchen!

Peas are hardy annuals, which means the plant completes its life cycle in one growing season, but being hardy, they can withstand some frost. For the gardener, that means we can extend the growing and cropping season and by growing a selection of early and maincrop varieties, you can enjoy freshly picked garden peas from late spring until autumn.

SOWING AND GROWING

Peas are best sown directly into the garden in flat-bottomed drills, 15cm (6in) wide and 5cm (2in) deep. Space the seeds about 5cm (2in) apart and cover over with fine soil. For very early crops you can start the seed off in pots or deep cell trays to produce plants to transplant out into thegarden. You can also start them off in half gutters. When the seedlings are a couple of inches tall, gently slide the compost and plants out into a shallow trench to avoid root disturbance.

To protect overwintering or early spring-sown rows of seedlings from extremesof weather, cover them over with cloches or fleece to help them establish.

Peas support themselves with tendrils, so make sure you push in twiggy stems between the plants or erect stronger supports with netting attached so that the plants have something to grip hold of.

Peas like a rich soil to grow in, so add plenty of well-rotted organic matter when preparing the soil.