To Pea, or not to Pea, that is the question!

I'm having a bit of a pea dilemma, there is nothing better than a home grown pea fresh from the pod, but there is limited space in my veggie patch and I have to weigh up the space/yield/value of everything that I put in there.  Broccoli and peas are my go-to vegetables of choice for accompanying an evening meal and while I feel like I can grow enough broccoli to make a dent in the broccoli purchases, I can't grow anywhere near enough peas for them to be more than a blink and you miss them novelty, a cameo appearance in a year of veggie growing.  Somehow though it seems wrong to leave them out! 

Pretty Peas

Now is the time for sowing peas, they do better in the cooler spring weather, they tend to suffer a bit in summer and succumb to various pea illnesses.  So ideally you'd get them in now and then they have done their thing in time for planting out bean seedlings to take you through summer.  If you live somewhere super frosty then a plastic bottle of some sort cut in half and popped over the seed/seedling will help protect the young plants.

Given that supermarket peas are frozen almost immediately after picking they are one of the best veggies you can buy in terms of freshness and value for $ so I think I have made my decision, I will forgo traditional peas this year in favour of something that is going to make me feel like I am getting more eats for space!  I'm not straying too far though, I'll be planting sugar snaps and mange tout instead :)  Delicious in stir fries, curries, salads and even just as they are on the side of the plate.  Eating the whole pod instead of just the inner peas makes them go that bit further into the worthwhile growing arena for the small veggie patch cultivator, and given that these seem to be ridiculously expensive in the supermarkets that makes them even more valuable in comparison to their traditional pea counterparts!

Now that is what I call bang for your buck, especially when you can eat the whole pod!

They are pretty easy to grow, plant the seeds direct in the ground, or in those biodegradable pots that you can put in to the ground once the seedlings have got going, they don't like to be disturbed too much.  Plant about 8 cm apart  and the general rule of thumb is to sow them at a depth of 3x the size of the seed. They will need support such as trellises or string between poles and you will need to tie them on until they have got the hang of things and start attaching themselves.  Once they start producing pick them nice and early before the pods start to go a bit leathery and pick often to encourage more production.

Last year's plants starting off in biodegradable pots

OK decision made, I'd better go plant some immediately!