Growing Vegetables

Planting Peas And Protecting Them From Pigeons

Peas are a great crop to grow at home. They do not require a lot of space as they grow upwards, they are fast to mature plus they are absolutely delicious. You will be surprised how many peas do not make it to the kitchen table because you end up eating them straight from the pod!

There are a lot of varieties of peas, including some overwintering ones. It is up to you which you grow. In the video below I show you three varieties; a petit pois (small and sweet), a sugar snap (small and sweet and a favourite with children) and a main crop, which tends to be larger and can get a bit tough if left too long.

You can use succession planting with peas if you prefer though I’ve found they all mature at different times anyway so I tend to plant a bed of peas all at once and then freeze what I don’t use.

Peas need to be about half an inch or a centimetre under the ground and can be planted in straight lines. I tend to plant mine in zig zags as you will see in the video below because I think you get more peas in the ground plus it helps a little with air circulation, which reduces the risk of fungus or mould.

Space each pea seed a couple of inches apart and then when you have planted the row, cover the seeds over with soil and gentle pat down. Once the entire area is planted then give them a thorough soaking as you need the peas themselves to get the water.

Peas can get attacked by pigeons so it can be worth netting them if it is likely to be a problem. I tend to use pea sticks to support the plants and these are usually annoying enough to keep the pigeons away. You can use nets for the peas to grow up if you prefer. Whilst you can buy pea sticks from shops you are far better to keep the prunings from your trees and let them dry out thoroughly. Be careful about putting green sticks in the ground as some of them will have a habit of taking root!

You may find a proportion of your peas do not germinate and you can just put more seeds in the spaces where no plants came up. Alternatively you can soak the pea seeds overnight before planting and that will increase the chances of germination.

When you are shelling peas, keep hold of the pea-pods because you can make a surprisingly tasty wine from them, which I will show you in another article very soon. It sounds weird I know but it is a fantastic wine to make using what many people consider a waste product!

The Allotment Diary video below will talk you through the process of planting peas and please leave a comment and your tips for getting a great crop or your favourite varieties!

How To Plant Tomato Seeds And Grow Tomatoes At Home

Tomatoes are one plant that many people grow from seed and is a plant many beginners start with. Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, used by most people and are extremely tasty when grown at home.

Your first step is to select the seeds that you want to grow. There are a huge variety of seeds and I personally prefer the heirloom varieties of seed. This are much more natural and tend to produce tastier tomatoes. These can be bought online in the UK and the US from Amazon or from your local garden centre.

My favourite varieties are yellow tomatoes, which are uncommon and expensive in the shops here in the UK. I do a lot of cooking with tomatoes so tend to grow a lot of them from cherry tomatoes through to plum and beefsteak tomatoes.

When you are planting seeds you first need to prepare a seed tray with a good quality potting compost (store bought or your own) and make sure there is about a centimetre gap between the top of seed tray and the top of the soil.

Place a single seed in each square or space the seeds about 2 inches apart. Just gently push them into the soil, not far down, just enough to stop them from blowing away. This allows you to see where all your seeds are placed and to make sure they are well spaced and you haven’t forgotten any.

Now gently sprinkle a small amount of compost, about half a centimetre, on top of each seed and gently press the soil down. You do not need to be too vigorous here, just enough to keep the soil in place. A looser soil will help the seed to push through and get to the surface and you will be repotting these soon enough.

Then water the seeds in and cover them. Either use cling film (plastic wrap) and wrap it over the seed tray or use a plastic propagator lid.

If you are using cling film then you need to make sure you check your seeds daily as this can keep too much moisture in the seed tray and cause mould to grow.

Then place the seed tray somewhere warm and bright and in a week or so you should find some seeds pushing up through the soil. Check the soil daily and if it is too dry then water it but careful not to over water it. If the watering reveals the seed then just gently push it back under the compost or scatter more on it – this can happen and you do not need to panic.

As the seedlings grow to a size where they have 2 or 3 leaves then you will need to remove them from the seed tray and put them in to individual pots so that they can grow. You do want to put them in to individual pots before they grow too large so that you do not damage the roots which can stunt the growth of the plant.

Read more in the next entry on re-potting and growing tomato plants (coming soon).