PEAS BY THE PLATEFUL

Home-grown garden peas are easy to grow, hardy and highly productive freezer fillers. KG editor Steve Ott offers some top tips for sure-fire success

- Steve Ott

The taste of fresh peas straight from the pod is one of the reasons many of us grow our own and the great news is if you choose the right varieties, you can be enjoying them fresh from early summer to late autumn.

They are versatile, too. Depending on variety, they can be eaten fresh, dried or frozen, as microgreens (pea shoots) or highly nutritious sprouted seeds. Besides, what dish isn’t improved by some peas? From a curry to a humble soup, those little sweet nuggets will lift any meal.

SITE AND SOIL

Choose a sunny site, sheltered from strong winds if possible. Peas need a fertile soil and one which has preferably had some well-rotted manure or garden compost incorporated or used as a top dressing in autumn. Peas often follow potatoes and come before leafy brassicas in a crop rotation.

As well as a dressing of organic matter, it is a good idea to evenly scatter a general fertiliser such as chicken manure pellets, Growmore, blood, fish and bone or comfrey pellets over the soil and to rake in a week before sowing.

SOWING

By choosing the right varieties and sowing in succession you can ensure a steady supply of fresh-picked peas from June to September or October when autumn conditions tend to encourage mildew and put an end to your plants. However, peas are often so prolific and freeze so well that any surplus can be stored away to enjoy throughout the winter.