|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Sept 24, 2011 23:48:44 GMT -5
I guess I have gotten excited about discovering crops that are more winter hardy in my garden, or that grow better in colder conditions.
Last week I planted two short rows of peas... About 60 seeds in each row... Looking for peas that will germinate this fall and live through the winter, and provide an earlier harvest in the spring.
Last fall, in November, a few days before the arrival of our winter snows I planted Austrian Winter peas. I was hoping for a spring cover crop, at which they were a dismal failure... However, they survived the winter as germinated seeds. This year I planted the descendants of those seeds 6 weeks earlier. Perhaps they will overwinter as small plants.
The other row was my pea landrace. I normally plant them the day after the snow melts. Perhaps there is some winter hardiness in them as well.
Has anyone else tried winter peas?
|
|
|
|
Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 25, 2011 2:02:20 GMT -5
My mentor has stopped direct seeding peas altogether due to poor stands. He is convinced it is due to earthworm predation of the peas and young pea seedlings. He's switched entirely to transplanting his peas. I don't have any strong opinion on this although I do plan on doing a pea transplanting trial next spring. If he's right though you might have trouble with overwintered peas getting eaten.
|
|
|
|
Post by potter on Sept 25, 2011 3:29:34 GMT -5
I'm one who has switched into transplanting too..I can get handfull of peas to go long way with minimum of losses.
With early sowing indoors I can get much earlier crops with more hardier varieties. Over here in UK I can't keep any peas alive over winter. I sow first lot under cover during February in pots and transplant few weeks later outdoors..usually with success.
|
|
|
|
Post by raymondo on Sept 25, 2011 6:44:31 GMT -5
I haven't yet tried autumn sowing for overwintering. Once I have a few varieties adapted to my garden I might give that a go.
I direct seed main crop peas but any I have that are precious or in short supply I sow in pots and transplant. Slugs take their toll on direct sown peas (and beans later in the season) so the peas (and beans) need to be up quickly. Hmmm...must try transplanting beans sometime.
|
|
|
|
Post by johno on Sept 25, 2011 8:57:38 GMT -5
5 pounds of Austrian Winter Peas are about two inches tall in my field beds right now. I'm curious to see how they do. I soaked them for about an hour first and had good germination. I think the seeder plate puts them a little too close. Wondering about crossing them with other peas...
|
|
|
|
Post by cortona on Sept 25, 2011 14:40:53 GMT -5
i wil start a little eperiment wit a sort of winte peas(i've found it in the graines baumax cataloge but now i dont remember the name) i wil sow it in the same moment as favas (usualy aguadulce claudia)
if they survive and prodce good i wil try other varieties in this way that skip the problem of the heat arriving too hearly here for spring planting
|
|
|
|
Post by robertb on Sept 25, 2011 15:20:22 GMT -5
Dunno about earthworm predation (do they really swallow peas?), but I wouldn't plant them direct due to pigeon damage. It's so bad over winter that I wonder whether any gain over spring planting would be worth it for the hassle.
|
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Sept 25, 2011 18:21:23 GMT -5
I planted these peas in late August last year. I got peas in November. And then we had so much rain, that they became unhappy. I'm putting in some peas now, I hope to have them in December. They did not overwinter till Spring. The favas, broccoli, cabbages, kale, chard, leeks, onions, garlic, cauliflower all overwintered. It snowed here last year. But that I had peas in November was a good thing. I also put in peas in August and I have peas now! It's been in the 90's till today. Rain. Hustling to harvest tomatoes, strawberries and dry beans. I'm trying both edible pod and snow peas. I also found some new peas from Taiwan called Taichung at that show. I'll give them a try and let you know. Go ahead and try the Kapuler peas, I have a quart of them. If they don't make it, I'll send you more. I'm guessing that this is the way that some things evolve to eventually make it through the winter. Now, when I find an overwintering tomato not from a Green House, we're in the money. Tomato, worth $4.00 a pound in November and I can't give them away in August. Back to picking before it's dark. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 26, 2011 2:01:49 GMT -5
Dunno about earthworm predation (do they really swallow peas?), but I wouldn't plant them direct due to pigeon damage. It's so bad over winter that I wonder whether any gain over spring planting would be worth it for the hassle. Well, like I said I don't have a strong opinion about it, but Paul is convinced that it happens. I have come to at least trial anything he recommends and most of it works. It may be that there are a number of different factors reducing the pea germ rate and he is just blaming it on the worms. I've seen a few of his transplanted stands however and they were the best looking pea patches I've ever seen for uniformity of stand and weed cleanliness. I'm going to try it. Especially for the early crop. |
|
|
|
Post by raymondo on Sept 26, 2011 4:28:45 GMT -5
... I also found some new peas from Taiwan called Taichung at that show. I'll give them a try and let you know... I picked up a packet of Taichung No. 11 snowpeas in a Chinese grocery store a year or two back and have them planted out now. Didn't get great germination as the seeds were already past their prime when I bought them. Enough to try though and to save fresh seed, should they be worth it. |
|
|
|
Post by oxbowfarm on Sept 26, 2011 8:52:35 GMT -5
Holly, want to digress in another thread about your trellises (trelli ?)? Looks like a half panel vertical with some kind of hoop support didger?
|
|
|
|
Post by extremegardener on Oct 14, 2011 12:24:37 GMT -5
... I also found some new peas from Taiwan called Taichung at that show. I'll give them a try and let you know... I picked up a packet of Taichung No. 11 snowpeas in a Chinese grocery store a year or two back and have them planted out now. Didn't get great germination as the seeds were already past their prime when I bought them. Enough to try though and to save fresh seed, should they be worth it. I'm in my second season with Taichung No. 13, a snap pea originally from Kitazawa. I've accepted them as regulars into my edible podded pea menagerie. Nothing terribly exciting about them here, but they're good - the vines aren't wimpy and delicate like some snap varieties, so they bear well; and they taste good. Wonder what the number designation is and what the word "Taichung" actually means. So the no. 11s are snow peas as opposed to snap peas? Maybe "Taichung" just means edible podded...  |
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Oct 14, 2011 12:56:00 GMT -5
Hey, I bought that pea too. Planting today. They're soaking in mycelium now. It was my understanding that Taichung just meant central Taiwan. But, I guess I never thought about it.
|
|
|
|
Post by caledonian on Oct 23, 2011 12:08:19 GMT -5
Has anyone else tried winter peas? Yes, but even the hardiest pea plants don't seem to be able to survive temperatures below 10 F. Not even the Austrian Field Pea. In my location, we get down to -10 in the worst of winter... so no overwintering pea plants. |
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 23, 2011 12:44:57 GMT -5
Yes, but even the hardiest pea plants don't seem to be able to survive temperatures below 10 F. Not even the Austrian Field Pea. The temperature of the peas might not be the same as the air temperature. In my garden 18" of snowcover typically insulates the plants from the coldest winter temperatures. |
|
