[Earl Grey]

Any tips out there for growing peas?
I sowed 3 times on my allotment last year without even a pod.
The first two sowings done mid and late March never showed above the ground, and the 3rd in April popped up and dissapeared a few days later.
I covered them over with fleece to keep off the birds, but I think mice are the main problem. I tried soaking in paraffin and that didn't work.
On my fourth and final attempt I just scattered them into a drill, covered with soil and lelft them, no protection, water or anything and most germinated and I had a decent crop. The plot holder next to me had such a patchy row of peas that some joker went and put a dozen tins of peas in the gaps. How can I ensure better success this year?

[compostqueen]

you could start them off indoors and then plant them out when they're bigger, with some mesh or netting over as EVERYTHING will want to nick em, as you've already discovered

I get mice so have gone down the plant route.

[Calou]

Do the mice only eat the pea seeds then as opposed to the plants?  :?

[Jerry]

It's probably mice taking them. There are many ways to overcome this, here are a few.
Half fill a seed tray with compost, water very well, scatter your peas thickly onto the compost - don't mess about spacing them, just a thick layer - cover with compost, water again. Leave in a sheltered place for a week. Inspect to see if they have started to germinate - pull some compost back and delve about. You aren't looking for leaves, just the seed shooting. As soon as they have, scatter the peas in your pre-prepared furrow. The mice don't take them once they've germinated.
Get a piece of guttering, fill with compost, firm it and water and sow your seeds in this. When they've come up about an inch or two, you can slide the whole lot into your furrow.
Sow as normal in the soil and place strips of wire mesh around 9 inches wide over the place where you sowed.
Some say, soak your peas in paraffin, but I never tried this.

[gregmcalister]

I had the same problem last year with my sugar snap peas, french beans and borlotti.  Hardly any of them germinated when sown outdoors in situ but I brought another batch on in the conservatory and they were fine. This year I'll be doing the same - sow indoors and plant out when the weather warms.

[Aunt Sally]

It's the mice taking them I believe.  But they don't take mine  

I grow my very earliest crop in gutters and plant them out on the lottie when they are about 4 inches high - I just slip them out of the gutter into a shallow trench.  I sow more directly into the ground at the same time so that I get a succession.  I cover all the peas with a chicken wire cloche to keep the birds off and I set mouse traps along the rows.  

[Aidy]

You may find this article interesting, I am experimenting at the moment to see if they will germinate deeper than recommended.....

http://www.cse.csiro.au/research/rodents/abstracts/Abstract_Brown_2003_CropProt_Increasing%20sowing%20depth.pdf

[Earl Grey]

Do the mice only eat the pea seeds then as opposed to the plants?  :?

Yes unfortunately most never got to the plant stage

[Earl Grey]

Many Thanks for all your replies, I'm definetly going to start them off in guttering in the greenhouse first. The mice will be a little hungrier this year.

[fivespud364]

The mice don't take them once they've germinated.

Yes they do !! i was growing our early peas and broad beans in the greenhouse but the mice were wrecking so many including knawing through plants 6" high i had to stop putting them in there and built a sealed cold frame for them to go in.

We are having major problems with mice both at home and at the nursery theyve taken the tops off loads of tomato seedlings and dug up trays of brassicas in the greenhouse here and had a good rake through several trays of beetroot, spinach and salad mixes at the nursery its a real problem at the moment

[fivespud364]

The mice don't take them once they've germinated.

Yes they do !! i was growing our early peas and broad beans in the greenhouse but the mice were wrecking so many including knawing through plants 6" high i had to stop putting them in there and built a sealed cold frame for them to go in.

We are having major problems with mice both at home and at the nursery theyve taken the tops off loads of tomato seedlings and dug up trays of brassicas in the greenhouse here and had a good rake through several trays of beetroot, spinach and salad mixes at the nursery its a real problem at the moment

[fivespud364]

whoops didnt know i had posted that twice my screen froze !!! sorry

[gobs]

Any tips out there for growing peas?
I sowed 3 times on my allotment last year without even a pod.
The first two sowings done mid and late March never showed above the ground, and the 3rd in April popped up and dissapeared a few days later.
How can I ensure better success this year?

Try for later sowings, as pea and bean weevil can be also responsible for a lot of disappearing seeds, more so, with early sowings.

Do early ones in pots, etc.

[vegmandan]

I have a big problem with mice too.

What I do is sow them outside and then protect them with some micro chicken wire with mesh holes of around 6-10mm.

I make this the same shape as an upturned gutter and bury the edges into the soil a couple of inches.

Then the Mice can't get to the peas and the plants just grow through the mesh.

It does work,honest.

[mdueal]

HAAAAAAAAAAAA! sorry - i'm still laughing at the tins of peas!!!! That's classic!