Water well, harvest fast and embrace French-style eating for the best crops, says Bob
Peas are one of those crops that folk too often forget, perhaps thinking the frozen ones are the same. Yet when peas are fresh they can be among the best gourmet experiences. Plus, these plants are rather easy to grow, consistently productive and they enrich the soil after they die off with nitrogen. Perhaps it’s the perceived faff of podding that puts people off, though I’ve an answer to that, picked up in France, which I’ll come to later.
First, sowing peas – right now is fine for all varieties. A wide drill is often still recommended and was once perfectly good advice, when peas were to climb up through a hedge of twiggy sticks planted over them. However as many, if not most, folk who grow peas train them up a sheet of netting, a wide flat drill means the peas come up not under the net but some distance away. Making a slit trench immediately under where the bottom of the net will sit is quicker and easier.
Protect peas from mice and birds
Water the soil amply, well before sowing, and add something smelly to the water (your choice, within reason, you know what I’d use) to camouflage the pea smell from mice and voles. Then sow along the slit almost touching, don’t worry they’ll have plenty of root room sideways. Firm down the soil and hang the net, ideally a rigid one. If it’s flimsy make it taut, as climbers like a robust support, and check it’s the same height as the peas are expected to grow to.
Ideally also put some bird excluders in place as they may razor off any seedlings they can get at. Or if you have rigid netting, you may be able to bend the bottom of this into a wee cage over the sowing.
If you are sowing more than one batch of the same variety, it spreads the harvest nicely to sow the next when the previous has just started to emerge. The next task other than weeding is to keep on top of watering, especially if the ground gets dry, also when plants come into flower and become extra thirsty.
How to ensure the pick of the peas
When we come to picking, it helps to check daily for any pods getting full. As soon as they start to swell ideally, and they can bulk out quickly. It’s better to do these checks, which are enjoyable, than risk lots of peas ‘going over’ when they become tough and only good for saving for next year’s seed. Seed saving itself is straightforward, just dry off some of the fattest peas and store them in a cool dry, rodent-proof, place for use next year.
The French secret to podding
Now we come to podding; it is tedious, and you can grow the sugar-snap sorts where you eat the whole pod, but that’s not fresh peas. I also have an antique Kenwood pea podding device that’s quick but brutal.
So, if your peas are to be eaten fresh, fresh, fresh, then there is a wonderful method. Wash the pods, steam for a few minutes until, when tested, the peas have softened and then serve entire.
Eat in the manner of hot asparagus; hold the wee stalk and position the pod inside your mouth then gently grip with your teeth as you pull the pod out leaving the peas inside. And tasting as if ready buttered. It’s brilliant, try it!
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