[oldcow]

Another newbie question... After being away for a few days, I came back to find that my peas, that I planted in toilet rolls, have now long roots showing from the bottom of the rolls.
Should I plant them out immediately to avoid them getting worse, or would I be better off hardening them off first?
I had no idea peas grow so fast!!!

[mumofstig]

Just a few days hardening them off and then in they go....peas are hardy.
I always sow mine direct in mid march....saves all the faffing around with pots 

[Ivah]

An alternative to hardening off when the weather doesn't look too bad (like now) is to plant them out with some protection like a fleece or plastic cloche. I put the stakes down each side of the row that I am going to use for strings then bend a piece of old roofing corrugated plastic (I was given some from a defunct car port) between them to make a tunnel. 

[Babstreefern]

I put in my first lot of peas a couple of weeks ago (I have them growing in root-trainers), and they come through with no problem in the frost we had during last week, along with another lot of peas (smaller).

[oldcow]

Thanks for the advice. Since the roots were already sticking out a lot, I put them out immediately, under protection as suggested. And I'll sow the next batch outdoors - being my first year, I'm experimenting to see what will work best; also, I assume I will get a "staggered" harvest that way (if I get any at all, that is) 

[purplebean]

Just a few days hardening them off and then in they go....peas are hardy.
I always sow mine direct in mid march....saves all the faffing around with pots 

Every time I sow direct I get zero germination, we have mice I know I have seen them wandering round the garden in broad daylight

[oldcow]

Mind you, now that you mention it, yesterday I saw two local cats chasing and finally killing a pretty large rat in the garden next door...