Not this year! My husband is now on to his third attempt with Pea Hurst Greenshaft.
I began with two shallow trenches in a garden planter at the end of our lawn. I am keeping records this year in a (charity shop) edition of the RHS Allotment Journal (2010) so that I can compare growing seasons. These two rows of 15 peas went in on 19th April 2024. Two germinated. What happened to the rest? My theory is that it was either the cold and very wet weather or the cheeky fieldmouse that had lost some of its fear of humans and used to bob around the base of our bird feeder snacking on what fell from the fat-balls.
The next idea was to retain the planter but sow in pots. It would be simple to transplant the germinated peas from the pots to the soil. On 10th May my husband did this, netted against the mouse or other marauders and left them there. Nothing doing. The peas seemed to have vanished.
Third attempt on 19th May. My husband emptied the planter, moved it to the back patio and repurposed it as a hardstanding area. He sowed around 20 peas in pots and re-potted the two from 19th April. Success. They germinated and are now standing above the radiator in the bay windowsill on bright blue plastic plates from the picnic basket. The intention is to put fresh compost and position them in the planter, initially netted against mice and sparrows who seem to enjoy the growing tips.
In these changing times it will be instructive to pick up the Journal next year and see what I record.
