Kitchen Garden

SIMON COURTAULD GIVE PEAS A CHANCE

Having dug up my ageing currant bushes during the winter, I am about to use some of the space to grow peas. This is a first for me, having told myself over the years that commercially grown peas, frozen within a couple of hours of being picked, are as sweet as any grown at home and have the advantage of being always available.

However, peas have been absent from my kitchen garden for too long. Last summer, a dish of freshly picked and shelled peas, some lightly boiled, others eaten straight from the pod, reminded me that their taste is undoubtedly superior to anything from a frozen bag.

A friend whose knowledge I respect has recommended two varieties: Alderman and Hurst Green Shaft,

and I shall begin sowing them at Easter. The best advice is to make a flat-bottomed trench wide enough to take two parallel and well-spaced rows of peas, sown in a zigzag pattern. I have an old gardening book which suggests first dipping the seeds in paraffin to keep mice away; another idea is to sprinkle a few mothballs on the surface of the soil.

Twiggy sticks should be put in place to support the plants when they are about four inches high. Hurst Green Shaft will grow to about three feet, with pods held in pairs high up the plants, which makes picking easier. Alderman may grow up to six feet and will need supporting with hazel or some other stakes in the same way as runner beans. This is particularly helpful for us oldies, as most of the peas can be harvested without having to bend down and suffer back pain.

Both varieties are known as wrinkled peas, with a higher sugar content than the round-seeded ones, which are hardier and more usually sown in autumn. If we can avoid pea moths and pea thrips, cropping should begin within three months, when a few raw peas eaten straight from the pod will be irresistible. By the beginning of July, I should know what I have been missing all these years.