[NorfolkVeg]

I have receive my sugar snap pea seeds today from Mr Fothergills, instructions say sow outdoors March-June in flat trench - Can I start these off in seed trays in greenhouse first before planting onto allotment?  Just with lack of rain, nothing has started on the allotment yet, I've ben started everything in greenhouse.

[BabbyAnn]

when I first got my plot, a neighbour strongly advised that I should start peas off at home and plant out later, so being a newbie, I complied thinking there was a perfectly good reason for this. 

Then a couple of years ago I volunteered to trial (funny enough Sugar Ann and Oregan mangeout) for the RHS, but had to follow their instructions so that the results were comparable.  It was such a great success and much better and easier to do than the "at home first" method that I now sow in situ.  If you dig a little trench and fill it with compost and then give the trench a thorough drenching before sowing, watering is actually much easier than dealing with individual plants, and of course, there is no disturbance of planting out.

[Salmo]

Whenever I have started peas at home I have found them very tempremental. It is very easy to start them too wet and they rot.

To sow directly into the ground first scape a flat bottomed furrow 2 inches deep and about 6 inches wide with a hoe. Water the bottom well and allow a few minutes to drain. Sow the peas along the furrow and push gently into the bottom so that there is good contact with the soil. Pull the dry soil from the sides of the furrow over the seed. Tamp down gently with the back of a rake. Do not water again until the peas emerge.

[mumofstig]

Do remember to cover the row as soon as you've sown them.
I forgot, and in the 2 hours till I remembered, the blinking birds had eaten the lot  :blink:
I had to resow 

[viettaclark]

I always grow these and Oregon and put them straight in the soil. I then net and sprinkle the magic blue pellets before watering. They've taken less than a week to show in this heat.
This year I'm trying Cascadia sugar snap as well.
Anyone tried them?

[NorfolkVeg]

what are the magic blue pellets??

[mumofstig]

slug pellets 

[madcat]

I chit them first - soak overnight and then leave in a warm place between two pieces of kitchen town until they just show a root - and then sow in a trench as described below with the root, or sign of a root pointing down.  Make sure they have some chicken or other netting or fleece or something protecting them when they come through - pigeons luuuurve peashoots. 

[mumofstig]

pigeons luuuurve peashoots.  

as do sparrows, sweet and chirpy they may be , but they still eat pea shoots and bean flowers