Peas Galore

[Penny]

Great growing list Galina.....i grew some Lancashire Lad that Rebsie sent me, and LOVED them!!

[robertb]

I think the more of us that post reports on heritage varieties the better. That way we'll get more of an idea of how they do in different conditions.

[galina]

Penny, Lancashire Lad is new to me this year. They originate from the Heritage Seed Library and are said to grow very tall with purple pods. Well they are two inch babies here, hardening off before being planted out under bottle cloches.

How tall were they with you? Did you eat the pods or shell them? Were they sweet? Sorry lots of questions here.

Robertb

We compared the heritage variety Dwarf Grey Sugar in three locations. They were truly dwarf in Colorado and needed no staking. In Maine they were two foot tall and here they were over four foot tall and needed good peasticks to keep them up. Pea plant length is latitude dependent it seems.

There are so many more observations we have the opportunity to make here. I am looking forward to it.

[robertb]

Same here. I've noticed that pea varieties are usually shorter than the quoted maximum height with me. Lancashire Lad was about 5 1/2 feet from what I remember. Not that sweet - none of the purple podded varieties are - but quite palatable. We cook everything with masses of chilli (my wife is African), so we're not bothered about sweetness.

I had a look in the atlas just now - Maine is coastal while Colorado is in the middle of the continent. So you'll get differences of insolation, day length, rainfall and temperature. That's a lot of variables!

[kathm]

Lancashire Lad aren't bad as a dried pea either - though the colour when soaked and cooked is alarming - as sort of purple-brown! I also ate some as mangetout when they were very young. As a purple eating pea I prefer Ezetha's Krombek Blauwschok. I also tried Carruthers' Purple Podded but it suffered badly from moth attack - about the only pea I grew that did.

[ottawagardener]

I'm intrigued by this conversation of pea growth and variables. I've grown Dwarf Mammoth and it was about 2 feet tall. Capucijner purple podded was at least 5 feet and golden edible podded were 6 feet at least. Tall telephone was tall at about 6 feet too. I've never had a pea that was less than 2 feet come to think of it.

[Penny]

We love questions here, mine grew to about 5 to 5 1/2 feet high and we ate them both ways, in the pod and shelled, and like everyone else said, they werent that sweet but had a nice flavour just the same.

[galina]

Thank you so much everybody. In a way knowing what to expect with Lancashire Lad makes me anticipate these even more. There is another Purple podded pea variety in the Heritage Seed Library and that sounds quite similar as far as eating qualities go, but not as tall.

Are you growing Mummy Pea, Robert?

Another variable in eventual pea stem height is the seed sowing date. The same variety started in February will grow a foot taller than started in April. Perhaps sun angle differences again? Lower light levels making the plants stretch versus stronger light later in spring? I would certainly include the sowing date in any comparison and mine are generally sown very early to avoid pea maggots. Kath, interesting that only Caruther's PP got attacked?

I guess all vegetable have a little more vegetation, larger leaves and lighter colouring the further north we go. I will let you know the final height of LL here. 8 foot supports pushed into the ground should be ok.

[robertb]

I am growing it, yes. No way could I resist a name like that! The seeds look like an ordinary marrowfat, as do those of King Tut, another one I have which I imagine is associated with the Tutankhamun myth. I believe peas actually were found in his tomb, but conditions in the tombs would ensure that seeds wouldn't last more than a few years in a viable condition.

The myth goes way back before Tutankhamun, to the early days of Egyptology. Peas were being 'discovered' in mummies and sold to gullible clients.

[flowerpower]

Hmm, I have a few King Tut peas I never planted last yr. Guess I will give it a go. They are used dry, right?

[ottawagardener]

I sow as early as possible, around the beginning of April in these parts.

King Tut peas, sometimes it's all in the branding!

[robertb]

There seem to be two varieties under the name of King Tut. There's a purple podded pea desctibes as having dark tan or olive green dimpled seeds, while mine look like typical marrowfats; cream and wrinkled. It's a question of growing them out and seeing what they turn into. Purple podded varieties were bred as field peas for dried seed, but I treat them all the same. It depends what you want them for; we use them in savoury dishes where the lack of sweetness isn't noticeable.

[galina]

Robert you wrote: 'Purple podded varieties were bred as field peas for dried seed'. Yes, but there are also green podded field peas, some with black hilum.

I can just imagine how exciting and exotic Mummy pea and King Tut etc must have sounded to gullible folk. Same myths around some beans. 'New Mexico Cave' to name just one. Whilst these were apparently only 1500 years old and found in a sealed pot in a hidden cave, ie a good deal younger than these Egyptian peas, the allure is the same. Yep salesmanship is not a new thing :-) But it still grabs the imagination today.

[robertb]

Purple pods are only a matter of two genes so it's not surprising you get both colours of pod! It's not what they'll have been selecting for after all.

[flowerpower]

Mar 21, 2010 8:14:54 GMT -5 robertb said:

There seem to be two varieties under the name of King Tut. There's a purple podded pea desctibes as having dark tan or olive green dimpled seeds, while mine look like typical marrowfats; cream and wrinkled. It's a question of growing them out and seeing what they turn into.

I planted the King Tut yesterday. They were not cream colored or wrinkled. They were more of a dark brown. They didn't look much different than my purple podded snow peas. So I guess I'll just wait and see.