How to sow pea seeds indoors successfully
I eat my peas with honey/I've done it all my life/It makes them taste quite funny/But it keeps them on the knife(Anonymous)
PEAS. If ever there was a food crop that begs to be homegrown and freshly harvested, then Pisum sativumis most definitely it. Or, as the late gardener Christopher Lloyd declared in his book Gardener Cook"here is a vegetable which you simply must grow yourself, as there is no adequate substitute".
And so OPW gardeners Brian Quinn and Meeda Downey are doing exactly that this spring, and sowing the rounded, wrinkled seeds of Onward, a classic variety that was first bred by the British seedsman, William Unwin, almost a century ago.
These aren’t being sown in situ (the more traditional method) but instead into seed modules in the nearby heated glasshouses. Why so? It turns out that the battle-hardened OPW gardeners are increasingly loath to let seeds take their chances outdoors, when late frosts, chilly winds, marauding slugs, greedy birds and even pilfering mice have caused so much damage in previous years.
“We prefer where possible to sow indoors and get the young plants up and growing before we put them out,” says Meeda. “That way, the crop comes in earlier and we’re sure of what we’ve got.”
Any gardeners with particularly poor draining or exposed plots should consider doing likewise, as pea seeds sown into cold wet soils will quietly rot, leaving the disappointed urban farmer waiting for germination to take place.
When sowing indoors, remember that garden peas (even the young seedlings) are particularly long-rooted and need a deep pot or container, otherwise the young plant too quickly becomes pot-bound. For this reason, canny eco gardeners like to use the cardboard inserts of loo or kitchen rolls (cut the latter in half), filled with compost and used as makeshift rootrainers.
These can be grouped in plastic pots/window boxes to keep them upright and then planted, roll-and-all, into the ground.
A more pricey alternative is the rootrainer proper, a cunningly designed propagating system of deep seed trays that’s ideal for sowing peas, leeks and other deep-rooting vegetable crops.
Its ingenuity lies in the fact that the individual segments or “books” are hinged, and so can be gently opened without root disturbance, allowing for both easy examination of the developing root system (important for impatient gardeners) and trouble-free transplanting into the ground.
The downside is that rootrainers are strangely difficult to source in this country, but UK supplier Haxnicks (haxnicks.co.uk) will quote for posting to Ireland. They also supply a handful of garden centres around the country, including Mr Middleton (Dublin), Ardcarne (Boyle and Roscommon town), McGaughs (Galway), Morgan’s (Carlow), Kennedy’s (Ballyconnell, Cavan), Connacht Gold (Sligo) and Navan (Meath).
Along with peas, Brian and Meeda are also sowing seed indoors of dwarf French beans (Stanley and Masterpiece), climbing French beans (Cobra), runner beans (Red Rum) and mangetout (the deliciously-named and highly decorative, heritage variety Carouby De Maussane).
Other urban farmers pressed for space will be interested in dwarf varieties such as the appropriately-named Half Pint pea, ideal for container growing as it reaches a height of just 30-37cm and needs no support.
Alternatively, if space isn't a problem, the extravagantly-titled, climbing bean Fagioli Rampicanti Dolcio del Metro(yes, really) is worth trying. Supplied by Thompson & Morgan (as is Half Pint), and also known as the asparagus bean, this variety produces a huge crop of ridiculously long pods (up to 45cm), and is definitely one for the show-off gardener.
For Brian and Meeda, however, it’s not so much about showing off but rather keeping up with what’s one of the busiest times of the year in both the glasshouse and the walled garden.
“We’re under real pressure now, and the next week will be all about sowing seed, pricking out young seedlings and potting on young plants that are in danger of getting leggy,” says Meeda, gesturing to the ever-filling glasshouse. “For example, we’ve got somewhere between 150 to 200 young tomato plants right now that need to be potted on and staked – they’ll be used as part of the school education programmes in the nearby visitor centre.”
Beside the tomatoes, trays of just-germinated cabbage, leek and calabrese seedlings are also begging for attention, alongside the many bedding and herbaceous perennial plants that the gardeners are also growing for the walled garden. “The cold winter killed off quite a few plants in the double herbaceous border, so they all need to be replaced,” says Meeda, as she looks at the (literally) thousands of young plants/seedlings waiting for more permanent homes.
“We’ll also need to start hardening off some of the larger plants this week, like the sweet pea and the tomatoes, to get them used to cooler temperatures,” adds Brian. “We’ll leave them outside for a few hours during the daytime, as long as the weather isn’t cold, wet or windy, and then put them in an unheated glasshouse at night.”
Any worries about frost? “No, not at this time of the year, although if there was a bad forecast, we’d probably take the extra precaution of covering the young plants with horticultural fleece. But we haven’t lost a plant yet.”
Of course, along with the more commonplace vegetable crops that the OPW gardeners are growing, it’s also pumpkin sowing time again.
“We need to sow seeds in the next few days, if we’re to have any hope of a decent-sized crop,” says Brian, grinning in happy anticipation as he rifles through the half-full bucket of seeds to see what’s left. “Jack-O-Lantern, Atlantic Giant and Dependable are the three varieties we’re growing this year.”
But what about his plans to source the famous Dill’s Atlantic Giant, the variety bred by the Canadian pumpkin king, Howard Dill, the one supposedly guaranteed to break all records?
“You need to order the seed over the internet and I left it too late to ship to Ireland in time for sowing,” says Brian, looking a little bit shamefaced. It also turns out that the seed of the really record-breaking heavyweights sells out very quickly, and for a ridiculously high price (see the price list for Atlantic Giant Premium Seed on howarddill.com for details). Hmmm.
Unsurprisingly, it appears that Brian is only one of many competitive gardeners out there. But then competitive gardening has a long history, even when it comes to the humble pea.
Thomas Jefferson, once president of the US and also an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and experimental gardener, happily competed with neighbours when it came to producing the first peas of the season (his favourite vegetable) in his garden at Monticello in Virginia (see monticello.org for details).
History, however, doesn’t tell us whether he ate them with honey or not . . .
- The OPW's Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Café and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4.30pm
- Next week Urban Farmerin Property will cover sowing and growing sweet corn
- Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer
