[Kimbo]

We have been eating my husband's Duke of York potatoes ( deeeelish) and his radishes for some weeks, and the strawberries were wonderful too. 
But tonight he brought in the ultimate gift....... the first fresh peas 

My 21 yr old son described them as  " insane".... which, for those of you without children, means they are very good indeed!
This is truly living

[pgkevet]

fesh peas - nice... specially if can find a mug to shell them. I've already ripped out the first row and mulched them in fter picking 3 bucketfuls of pods over the last 2 weeks (some shelled in freezer). Second row just finishing flowering and pods starting.

sweetcorn silks are just string to darken here.. looking forwards to those if the pheasants and hares don't get them all...

[Caroline1]

I love fresh peas. The mice got my first lot so didn't get as many this year as I would have liked.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

am feeling jealous. Sounds like your hubby is an epic gardener, maybe you could both give me some tips

[Kimbo]

He's just an enthusiastic amateur WBF. He has grown bits and bobs for years but this is his first serious vegetable garden. I think he's really enjoying it and the produce is very welcome and , so far, wonderfully delicious

[pgkevet]

am feeling jealous. Sounds like your hubby is an epic gardener, maybe you could both give me some tips

Peas easy (easy peasy)... rotorvate, gouge shallow groove, sprinkle pea seeds three-ish wide, cover, cover with chicken wire tunnel.. wait.. when decent size lift one edge of chicken wire tunnel and turn into support fence with canes.. wait.. pick peas.. complain abou how many you have to shell.. eat and enjoy

[waterbuffalofarmer]

am feeling jealous. Sounds like your hubby is an epic gardener, maybe you could both give me some tips

Peas easy (easy peasy)... rotorvate, gouge shallow groove, sprinkle pea seeds three-ish wide, cover, cover with chicken wire tunnel.. wait.. when decent size lift one edge of chicken wire tunnel and turn into support fence with canes.. wait.. pick peas.. complain abou how many you have to shell.. eat and enjoy

Thanks for that I've never been able to grow them where I live, very easily, but I do well with maungtout. I'm starting to get to grips with gardening now, its only taken me 4 years I'll try these next year, hopefully, and keep you all updated to see how I get on.

[pgkevet]

Wife was complainign that i did't remmeber which was the mange tout and was picking the wrong ones. So this year I sowed a mange tout variety that has red flowers and pink pods - she still didnlt like them as mange tout  . Anyhoo.. left t become peas they have a lovely green colour with a red stalky pippy eye bit - quite fetching and cook as peas fine.
My veggie patch is in what was hay meadow with a widflower mix and constantly mowed for hay with no dressings (as they should be managed) so for vaggies the ground was nice soil but starved. The first year I chucked several tons of rotten horse on it and a lot of woodchip, Subsequent years local farme dressed it with cow dug each year and it gets henhouse waste alternate years (I alternate patches with a fallow year). Now the soil is very rich and productive. I spray the fallow patch down towards the end of the year and plough it in. This year i'll likely chuck on a  few stale bales of hay and run a mulching deck over them and plough that in too...

[Carse Goodlifers]

When we had the allotment, we used to have great pea crops - transplanted the plants from cell packs so that the mice didn't eat the seed.
This year, first year growing in our raised beds at home - same method.  The seed rotted in the first batch and 90% of the seed rotted in the second batch.  I'm not chuffed 

The manage tout are fine and are cropping well..........................however our dear little BT'S ( ) have found the bed with the peas in them and when let out of the house into the garden, they are quite literally taking a pea/pee in both senses and spellings of the word! 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I put burned coal on the raised beds over the winter, that's supposed to enrich the soil along with well rotted pig and buff manure. Excellent crops from that, but this year was due to poor weather.  having said that my courgettes have done well. I have a new variety to suggest, black forest T&M hybrid, a little pricey but the courgettes are fast growing and gorgeous

[Fleecewife]

I prefer Sugar Snap peas to either mange tout or podding peas (because I'm the one who has to do the podding)  With SS, you get the best of both worlds - no podding but the peas are crispy and sweet - you eat them when the peas have grown inside, but with the pod still on.  They are even more difficult to tell from podding peas than MT.
Our podding peas are only just ready.  I grow them for eating straight off the vine - it makes the grandchildren think they're doing something bad, whilst getting some lovely fresh veg.  Any left get mixed with SS peas for dinner, or might get frozen.

I don't think it's as easy as you portray to grow good peas P'Vet.  Here if we sow them direct into the ground, indoors as well as outdoors, they will either be robbed by the birds or eaten by mice in the early stages.  They can get moulds and mildews in unfavourable weather, or just curl up and die for no apparent reason.

[pgkevet]

I did grow peas in modules one year.. 5 per 3" square pot. I have to do that with beans to get a early crop.. 2 per module for runners. 3 per module for french. But now find for the peas it's better to wait a bit for the soil and sow direct....just 'cos of the numbers. I think I sowed 1,000 pea seeds for a 15metre length in the first run and second 1/2 row was similar density. It;s just too much work via module what with 120+ 3"sweetcorn modules as wel as the beans.. brassicas etc go in the smaller 40/tray sizes - a full tray each type brassica...

I did lose my first carrot sowing, though parsnips came up first hit and are big enough to eat already.

[Fleecewife]

Peas can be started off well in lengths of guttering, suspended to keep them out of the reach of mice.  Then when they are a couple of inches tall you slide the whole thing - roots and soil - into a shallow trench and they grow on with no setback.

I'm keeping very quiet about those horrible little maggots which can infest a pea crop, in case they hear me and take it as an invitation.  It's another reason to eat mange tout or Sugar Snap - even if they're in there, you don't know because you don't open the pods   

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I always grow mangetout and sugarsnaps indoors in window boxes with frames they always do well. 

[pgkevet]

we call the 'grubs'.. a little more user friendly - and a great source of protein
The thought of sliding a 15m length of guttering off the trailer and sliding the peas into a shallow groove tickled me..or hanging guttering liek venetian blinds in 6 foot lengths...