The first peas were harvested on Tuesday 22nd June, 2010 but yields were generally low as the effects of the late frosts took it’s toll, with some flowers being aborted.
pea pods
Silver Y Moth has been a slight problem, particularly in Petits Pois varieties, resulting in high levels of caterpillars being found in the pods.
Yields started to pick up once the frosted crops had been picked, and although not as good as last year, the peas were producing above average yields. As temperatures continued to rise, pods developed faster & there were more peas to pick. Petits Pois yields have been very good.
peas in pod
The last peas sown reached full flower on 22nd July, & will probably be harvested around the 11th – 13th August, 2010.
We have been cooking the Midwinter Broad beans! They are a great addition to the veg garden.
The cooked Midwinter broad beans are:
delicious
sweet
mild in flavour
pinkish when cooked
cooked-broad-beans
The Midwinter broad beans have:
yielded well
stood up well without staking
been disease free
cooked-beans
The breeder of this strain, Malcolm Allison, said “the red-seeded character develops while the beans are young & good to eat, whereas the purple colour only comes as the beans are drying out & not worth eating.” We found that the young immature beans had pink tips where the bean is attached to the pod. But as the beans mature the pinky/red colour develops over the whole bean. This colour stayed on the beans after they had been cooked by steaming. One pod did not have the pink colour, and these bright green broad beans contrasted with the Midwinter pink beans after cooking and added to the picture on the plate!
There are 2 types of pea, but they are both grown in the same way:
mangetout – the whole pod is eaten with tiny underdeveloped peas inside
shelling peas - these are round (for early peas) or wrinkled (for summer peas & are sweeter)
semi-leaflesspea-in-flower
Peas grow best in the first half of the year when it is not too hot.
Sow every 2 weeks from March until July for a continual supply.
Sow seeds thinly in drills 5cm (2in) deep, allowing 45-60cm (18-24in) between the rows.
Site – sunny as soil needs to be warm for peas – so cover with polythene if cold.
Soil - deep & rich with well rotted manure or compost dug in the previous
autumn/winter.
Weed rows regularly.
Support plants when 8-10cm (3-4in) tall, with twiggy sticks or netting.
Water twice a week during flowering and pod development to help fill the peas in the pod.
Pick mangetout when the pods are small, flat and stringless – just as the peas inside start to develop. Pick shelling peas when the pods start to swell & the peas are a good size, but before the pods change colour & the peas go hard.
Depending on the sowing time, peas can be harvested from June-September. Pick regularly to allow more pea pods to grow & develop.
In spite of the drought, the peas look very well and are in flower.
flower-pea
These peas were planted late, in the last week of May.
semi-leafless pea plant
They are a semi-leafless pea, with lots of tendrils which wind round each other and help hold the plant up.
semi-leaflesspea-in-flower
Soon the flowers will develop into the pods full of tiny peas. They can be eaten early as mangetout (the whole pod), or we can wait for the peas inside to grow & eat them as peas.
The pea flower has to be fertilised to produce the pod, but most blooms self-pollinate while still in bud.
Every vegetable gardener has to decide when broad beans are ready to harvest.
A lot depends on how the individual likes to eat them – small, sweet & tender, or large with flavour!
broad-bean-pods-filling
If the pods have swollen and the beans inside are properly formed, but still really small and sweet, the whole pod can be cooked and eaten with the beans inside.
It is always a balance between yield and sweet tenderness. (more…)
It is worth putting string round broad beans & tying to a stake if they are growing on fertile soil, as they grow tall and tend to fall over in heavy rain or wind.
LodgedBroadBeans
When the broadbean plant blows over it ‘lodges’ with other broad bean plants and stays close to the soil. Some of the leaves will be hidden from bright light so the broad bean pods will not be fed so well which means that they will not grow and fill with good sized broad beans.
lodged-Optica-broad-beans
The beans in the picture lodged at a late stage in their growing period, so will provide a decent harvest. But if the lodging had happened at flowering time, the broad bean pods would not have filled properly.
broad-bean-plant-Optica
The broad bean plants are quite heavy, particularly when wet from rain, so it is worth putting some string round them to stop them falling over.
The bottom leaves of one plant appears to have rust, but so far it is not having any visible effects on the plant.
vigorous-midwinter-plants
Malcolm has warned that this strain of broad bean will not yield well. But we look forward to harvesting the purple Midwinter broad beans that will result from these flowers!
These plastic sticks to support runner beans were a big expense 4 years ago – but it is so good to be able to get them out of the shed & put them up in no time at all.
preparing-for-beans
Our hazel sticks:
look good
take ages to cut & strip, if you are using your own hazel
are trickier to place as they are all different shapes
