Harvest the pea pods when they are swollen with fat little peas but before they go woody, Mange tout can be harvested when they are 2-3cm long. You can continue to harvest a few pea leaves and pea shoots as required.Imagine picking your own homegrown pods of garden peas; then popping the pods and tipping the sweet little peas straight into your mouth. Even though you may end up eating them all before they ever reach the kitchen, garden peas are a great and very easy crop to grow. Cover over with more compost and keep slightly moist. The great thing about peas (and also mange tout and broad beans, but NOT sweet pea flowers) is that you can eat the shoots. Some gardeners grow pea shoots as an early spring vegetable and harvest the shoots completely as a vegetable. If you make a sowing every fortnight from January you will extend the cropping season so that you can pick fresh peas for several weeks throughout the summer.Peas are hardy which means they are one of the crops that can actually be sown in situ now into the garden soil, (you can also sow them in the autumn). Simply make a shallow trench in the garden a similar length to the guttering and then slide the compost and peas into this trench, covering over with more seed compost to ensure good contact between the pea plant compost and the garden soil below. It’s the perfect shape and depth for the seedlings to grow in and then when they have filled the compost with roots you can slide the compost and plants into ready prepared seed drills. You can also eat pea tendrils. Simply sow the seeds into half drainpipes (guttering) filled with a quality seed Garden Greenhouse Wholesalers compost. Do not over water and make sure you protect them from mice, by covering over with fine gauge chicken wire. Cover over with cloches to protect the developing plants and when they reach about 15cm tall, remove the cloches and provide hazel sticks as support for the developing plants. They also make good plants for children to try, so get them involved too. Peas have tendrils that will grasp the support and hold the plants upright keeping the developing plants clean and the pods free from soil. For the best results it’s much better to get them started in a cool greenhouse. Don’t forget that the flowers need to be uncovered for pollinating insects to reach them so be sure not to cover them in fleece or fine netting when they are in flower. The trouble is they are so tasty that often garden mice and other creatures may eat them even before they come up. The slender shoots will soon be pushing their way through the compost and towards the light. There probably isn’t a better tasting home grown vegetable than fresh peas straight from the pods. You can sow peas into small pots, seed trays or transport dog cage modules but I prefer to use old guttering (that has been cleaned) to get them started.When the plant roots have filled the compost and the pea plants are growing vigorously this is a signal to plant them outside.
