[shokkyy]

I have followed Geoff's method for a few years now and like it as I can protect them in the greenhouse until they are a reasonable height to plant out so they don't get nibbled.

I planted 4 trays of sweet peas in my greenhouse last year, and one mouse ate the whole lot. I know it was one mouse because he was so drunk on sweet peas that he dived headfirst into the watering can and committed suicide. After his demise, I never lost another plant.

[DD.]

Likewise a couple of years ago, I planted a solitary pea of a heritage variety I thought the pigeons had decimated. There was one pea left lying on the soil.

I planted this in it's own individual pot and it sucessfully germinated.

A slug chopped it in half.

A greenhouse is not a safe place!

[hightide]

Great idea until you try to get them out of the guttering and into the ground, the bedding usually sticks or breaks up also unsupported guttering can twist and you dump a load on the ground. Use a double layer of garden twine in the bottom of the gutter before adding the compost. When it is time to transplant, soak the plants in the gutter and tie one end of the twine to a stake at the end of a trench, simply walk back guiding the young peas and bedding into the furrow. You need to keep the angle low otherwise the twine can become separated and leave the whole bed of plants in the gutter.
 

[DD.]

Ever tried the radical idea of sowing straight into the soil?

[mumofstig]

Ever tried the radical idea of sowing straight into the soil?

I think some people just enjoy all the extra mucking about    

[elibump]

Ever tried the radical idea of sowing straight into the soil?

I think some people just enjoy all the extra mucking about    

Are you supposed to put muck in the trench or the guttering MoS? 

Eli xx

[mumofstig]

  

[harry]

Thanks for all the help, I have some 3 mtr lengths of gutter and i thought of cutting them in 1 mtr lengths. I don't have a greenhouse so I'll wait until march

[harry]

I read on here last year about planting peas in a gutter. Well i've cadged the gutter off a local double glazing man and got the peas, is it time to plant them yet and do i just fill the gutter with compost?

Hi Harry- I am going to try this too this year. I have a book Allotment Month by Month and page 46 shows this. It's a job for February according to them until weather warms up. PM me if you want more detail. Good Luck!

Thanks virgin veg grower Ihave the same book and found it on page 46 as you said

[Ma and Pa Snip]

Hello Harry

Whilst not wishing to put a damper on your experimentation I doubt you will find any advantage in using guttering if you do not have a greenhouse,  or large coldframe

The idea behind the use of guttering is to allow peas that have been brought on to be transplanted into the ground without excessive route disturbance. If you have no means of giving them slightly warmer conditions when sown I think you might find planting them in guttering to be a waste of time and effort with no great advantage.

[DD.]

I'm not sure about that.

I don't do it in view of the amount I sow, but a smaller amount can be looked after better & kept away from mice etc. than you can do on an allotment.

One idea, if you do a search on the topic, was to suspend the gutter. Mice - no way!

[Ma and Pa Snip]

Good point DD, I hadn't thought about thoe pesky meeces.

[scousemouse]

IIRC, Toby Buckland on Gardener's World used the gutter method and hung the guttering from the ceiling so mice couldn't get to it.

I do tend to start off my peas and mange tout in the greenhouse as pigeons eat the plants if I put them out too small.  I've not tried the guttering method though. 

Someone I know gets very good results from starting peas in those polystyrene tea cups - 3 in each one with a hole the size of a 5p in the bottom.  Once they've grown, he plants the lot, cup and all, along a row of chicken wire.  He usually gets tons of peas that way.

[DD.]

As I grow about 200' of peas a year, starting in a greenhouse or in guttering is not practical for me, neither is careful spacing of the seed!

In practice it's make trench with a draw hoe, throw them in by the handfull, cover & net. I used well pegged down debris netting, supported to a height of about 12" and it seems to keep the critters out. Never had a problem with germination.

[scousemouse]

That's how my grandad used to grow them! Only his were on a slightly smaller scale.

200' of peas! Wow.