The pea frames last year were not a terrific success - the strings which the peas were supposed to climb up were not robust enough, rotting & snapping where they were in contact with the soil. In addition, with the strings converging at the top of each frame the peas grew closer together the taller they grow, mixing the varieties together.
I've not quite settled on an alternative plan, but I do have some ideas involving netting on two rows of vertical bamboo sticks, which I'm pretty sure will be sturdy enough.
This should mean that there will be room to grow eight varieties of pea - or rather seven types of pea & some sweet peas. In order to prolong the picking period, I've sown three lots of PEA (latvian, alderman & red flowered mangetout) in pots now (along with some BROAD BEAN (crimson flowered), & I'll sow four more types in either April or May.
So the lucky varieties to get into compost so far are:
Latvian - a heritage variety described as 'grey peas grown across Latvia & traditionally eaten with fried fatty port & onions. Soak overnight as use the dried peas as an alternative to chickpeas. The large flowers are as attractive as ornamental sweet peas'
Alderman - 'gives a high yield of sweet tender peas'
Red flowered mangetout - which was sent by a fellow seed swapper in Pembrokeshire. I have no further information about at all - but I'm sure that they will be a very tasty surprise!
Could you build a support frame that is an inverted triangle, like the bean frame which Flummery inherited on her new plot?
ReplyDeleteMy bean frame has wires where you might put string. Big job to make though.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to use vertical bamboo canes and pea netting this year as it worked for Plum's cousin great last year
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments as ever, all.
ReplyDeleteAm trying to get the best of both worlds (i.e. constructing a robust frame without it being a huge job) has not turned out brilliantly - further work needed, I think!