[3759allen]

i have been reading the recent pea post but non of the replies help me and i didn't want to hi jack the thread so hope it's ok to start a new one on a similar subject. can admin sort it if it's not ok

first year of growing peas so have no idea what i'm doing.

i think i'm also making life harder for myself as i'm hoping they will be ok in shade for half the day (only have sun first and last thing).

i'm hoping they will grow up the side of my garage (mesh will be going up in the next couple of days), i've got a tall variety and am hoping to tie them in to mesh as they grow. will this be ok?

the soil here is not great a lot of stone and not much organic so i am growing in 20l containers with home made compost and manure. ok?

the main thing i'm un sure of is spacing between plants? i fear i will have to plant them thinner as i need to get access to a raised bed that is close by, so don't want them to thick up the wall.

i appreciate the location is not ideal but i'm looking for something to make use of the wall that will tolerate shade.

any help and advice appreciated.

[oldgrunge]

peas will manage in partial shade. Could you not add your compost to the soil to improve it? However you grow them, bear in mind that you are growing against a wall, so you may have a "rain shadow". That is, they may be sheltered from rain, and as peas like plenty of water when in flower and forming pods, you may have to watch the watering. Good luck.

[3759allen]

i choose tubs for 2 reason.

firstly i think it would be a pain to get compost into the soil as i need to leave a small walk way so would have to put some sort of board/ raised bed to separate the narrow path and the pea bed.

also thought that being in tubs would mean i wouldn't have to rotate the crop and could just rotate the soil/ compost.

i'll bare that in mind about the need to water.

[Yorkie]

DD's spacing for a row, which would be OK I think for your mesh row, is a seed every 2" diagonally.  You'll probably find that some don't come up, so don't worry too much about thick sowing - you can always thin out later.

Don't forget to feed them once they've been in for a while - they are hungry plants.

[DD.]

Sorry to contradict you, Yorkie. I never feed mine. Thompson & Morgan say this:

"Don't over-feed - Don't feed peas with nitrogen rich fertilisers as can cause lots of leafy growth instead of producing pea pods. In most cases peas won't require any extra feed, especially if you added plenty of organic matter to the soil before sowing"

[Yorkie]

Sorry to contradict you, Yorkie. I never feed mine. Thompson & Morgan say this:

"Don't over-feed - Don't feed peas with nitrogen rich fertilisers as can cause lots of leafy growth instead of producing pea pods. In most cases peas won't require any extra feed, especially if you added plenty of organic matter to the soil before sowing"

Normally I wouldn't hesitate to agree with you, but 3579allen is growing in relatively small containers with only home made compost and manure, unlike soil which has far more & longer lasting nutrition, DD.  The plants will need some food.

[3759allen]

i did look at how DD plants his but i wasn't sure i could do it the same way as his rows are in the open and can be picked and grow both sides.

i'm just worried that if i do similar spacings i will end up with a wide bush/ row that will grow away from the wall and block the pathway.

as i said i would rather a smaller thinner crop than not be able to get to half of my raised bed. i'm only planting along the wall to try and use a space that isn't great for anything else so any crop would be a bonus rather than waste the area.

maybe a single line of plants spaced 2" apart would be the way? i suppose i can thin out if too many or if too thin then learn from it and plant more next year.

[BabbyAnn]

i did look at how DD plants his but i wasn't sure i could do it the same way as his rows are in the open and can be picked and grow both sides.

i'm just worried that if i do similar spacings i will end up with a wide bush/ row that will grow away from the wall and block the pathway.

Despite the description you gave, I'm having a problem imagining how it would look so a photo would be helpful.  It may be that you have more space than you think - peas aren't particularly bushy, and picking pods is not that difficult (you might have to prise foliage aside to reach the back and have a fondle with your hand when picking)

Plants seek light so they are not going to grow towards the wall but away from it.  Even with a mesh, they are still going to push forward, but I don't think it's going to be a problem.  My advice is to try and see how it goes - it's not as though seed is particularly expensive.

[mumofstig]

Unless your 20l tubs are wide and very thin (like window boxes) I'm not sure that growing in them will give you any more room at the bottom of the wall for your path.

Instead of doing a wide row, like DD, you could grow a single row of peas 2 or 3 inches apart - but don't expect a big yield from the row, if you do.

Sow the same distance apart in pots, but round pots full of peas will be bushier than a row along the wall. IMO

[Goosegirl]

If you find your peas bush out more than you want them to, just tie some twine from one end of the supports to the other as they grow to hold them back out of the way.

[3759allen]

thanks for all the replies.

i will try and get a photo of the location tomorrow. please excuse the mess around it, i'm behind this year and have what i call useful stuff (the mrs has another word for it begining with s, lol) everywhere. hopefully it will all be tidied when by time i start planting.

the containers are just over a foot square, if the peas can be tied in so they don't come further out than the containers room will be fine. i'm just concerned at the amount of nutrients and light they have available, i would rather have half the amount of healthy and good cropping plants rather than double the amount of plants that will struggle.

[3759allen]

pics of location as promised

[sunshineband]

That's a good amount of containers you have there. The need to water them has already been mentioned, but I wondered if you had considered some sort of trickle watering system, which would make life much easier. They may well need watering almost every day in hot weather, even though they are not in full sun.

[oldgrunge]

as I work long hours in the summer, last season I set up a micro irrigation system in the greenhouse. This was linked to a water computer.  It saved me so much time, this year I'm going to extend it to other parts of the garden. The bits are quite cheap to buy online.

[3759allen]

i am relatively lucky in the respect that i work short ish night shifts so time is no massive issue, i can water early morning or late evening (before and after work) to help a little.

there is also 4 water butts at the end of the row that has a hose pipe on so wouldn't be too bad to make something work.

i also used fresh rabbit manure last year to help hold the moisture and that made an incredible difference.

so where should i be spacing wise?