Green Fingers: Two sweet peas
Sweet peas are grown for their fragrant flowers.
Peas are a large family of plants, which contain those that look good and also those that you can eat, and sometimes you can do both with the one type. They are something that you do not need much space for and they give a big return in a short space of time.
These are mostly climbing plants, which are grown for their fragrant flowers and are so easy to grow that anyone can do so without much knowledge or expertise.
Some people advocate sowing them in the autumn and overwintering them until planting out from April onwards but I think that is an unnecessary effort when you can just sow them from now on, either directly outside or, as I do, in small pots to help get a better germination and then plant out when 15-20cm (2-4”) tall.
As they are climbers they need something to climb up on and a trellis, wire netting or similar structure around 2m (6’) high would be good.
Watch out for slugs for about four weeks after planting and thereafter you can admire the flowers when outside and of course pick them regularly for the house or to give away, and the whole growing season they will continue until the frosts arrive in the autumn.
There are many varieties available but go for the pack of seeds that states they are strongly or very fragrant. After that choose the colours that appeal to you, though the mixed varieties are fine unless you want single colours for a particular scheme.
Good varieties include ‘Showbench’ mix (high scent), ‘Incense’ (heavily scented), ‘Singing the Blues’ and ‘Fragrant Skies’ (High scented blue shades) and the dwarf trailing variety ‘Tide mix’ (high scent) for pots and containers.
When it comes to vegetable peas, the choice of varieties is great. Most types sold are generally dwarfish growing but they will need the support of netting or twigs as they grow to about 60-90cm (2-3’).
You can sow all the varieties from now on until the end of June and I would go for the sweetest tasting ones, such as ‘Hurst Green Shaft’ (1st choice) but ‘Onward’ and ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ are also good and can be eaten fresh from the pod or steam them for later consumption.
The ‘Sugar Snap’ can be eaten fresh when the pods are young or let them fully develop when they can be shelled from mature pods.
There are always too many peas in the seed packets but they can be stored in a plastic container and used for a number of years without much deterioration.
Plants have started into growth, which means that the traditional time for planting all manner of bare-rooted (un-potted) trees and shrubs has stopped for this season.
By all means continue to sow small batches of seeds indoors - of whatever you wish to grow this year - and, if the weather improves, you can venture with some direct sowing outdoors.
If you have any queries or comments you are welcome to share them with me on 051-384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include it in a future article.
