Lucy explains how to make the most of the next few weeks
Sow peas – lots of peas!
Have you discovered the wondrous pure joy of scoffing shelled peas straight from the plants? Or is your preference to crunch your way through a bowl brimming with homegrown mange-tout pods? And what about tossing a stir fry of freshly picked sugar snaps into your favourite dish? As you can tell, the world of peas is a diverse one, so I’m here to ensure you embrace it fully.
You may well have made some indoor sowings of peas, but what if you have no under cover space? For outdoor sowings, peas benefit by being started off once the soil is no longer cold, but before conditions get overly hot and dry. Consequently, now is ideal.
For shelling peas, my absolute go-to is ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ due to its heavy crops of lengthy pods (getting ten peas per pod isn’t unusual). It also shows great resistance to downy mildew and wilts (as do ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ and ‘Terrain’) so is great for organic growers.
I’ve mentioned below two dwarf shelling peas, but if you have room do look at tall heritage peas like ‘Lord Leicester’ (shelling). This grows to roughly 1.5m tall, but it duly crops heavily and over a long period. Other tall types worth seeking out include ‘Rosakrone’ (shelling) with white and red blooms, ‘Golden Sweet’ (mangetout) which has yellow pods, ‘Carouby de Maussane’ (mangetout) with purple flowers, and ‘Sugar Magnolia’ (sugar snap) with bicoloured flowers and purple pods. Just be sure to erect sturdy, lofty supports to accommodate the extra weight and height of taller peas.
When you make sowings of peas outside, protect drills and emerging seedlings from mice and birds. I’ve found that sprinkling finely ground pepper over the drill weekly deters mice (they have very sensitive noses, hot chilli powder works just as well). Fine wire mesh cloches, erected over each row, thwart any inquisitive beaks.
Growing in a compact plot
If you’ve been blessed with a tiny plot, it focuses your efforts into squeezing as many edibles onto it as possible! Walls, pots, nooks and crannies can all be utilised, and there’s a delectable smorgasbord of pint-sized edibles to suit. Let me introduce a few:
‘Tumbling Tom Red’ is a classic compact tomato, and if blight is a problem, red-fruited dwarf ‘Koralik’ shows strong resistance.
Runner beans: ‘Hestia’ and ‘Jackpot’ are both compact, productive and (with red, white and pink flowers) supremely pretty.
Peas: ‘American Wonder’ and ‘Half Pint’ are truly compact, yet they’ll produce abundant pods.
For heat lovers, chilli ‘Prairie Fire’ is ideal, growing only 25cm tall, yet smothered in green fruits that ripen to yellow then red (they’re scorchingly ho
