AT HOME WITH JACKIE
GARDENING AUSTRALIA MAY 2019 55
I
am an expert on not growing peas.
I’ve managed not to grow them nearly
every year for almost half a century.
The best way not to grow peas is to
have wallaby companions in the garden.
Wallabies will crawl through wombat
holes or lean on fences until they
collapse to get to peas.
Bowerbirds are pea pluckers, too. If
they are hungry, they will even eat the
young plants. Otherwise they eat the
fl owers – no fl owers, no peas. And if
you do get peas, they’ll eat those, too.
The only solution I know is to use
protective netting, but make sure it is
bird safe. If you can fi t a fi nger through
the holes, you need fi ner netting, or the
birds may get caught and die. Tiger
snakes also get caught in bird netting.
This is not a meeting you want to have
among your pea plants.
Mildew is also an excellent way of not
getting a pea crop. Peas need good air
circulation. If you expect a humid autumn
or spring, grow a climbing variety and
never let them be surrounded by a thick
crop of weeds. Your pea plants will wilt,
and so will your pea-eating expectations.
Otherwise, stake the peas so the air
can fl ow around them. In humid areas,
angle the rows so wind fl ows down
them, not across, maximising the area
exposed to the wind. And always clean
up all the old leaves and stalks after
a crop of peas, as they will probably
be infected and may pass on the early
infection to the next crop.
Peas must be planted at the right
time, too. Peas germinate when the soil
is 7–24°C, but prefer at least 13°C. Avoid
growing peas if the temperature will go
above 24°C for more than two hours a day
when the plants are mature, otherwise the
pea fl owers may not set. Frost may resultin empty pea pods, too, or burnt
blossom. This means you need
to work out when your pea crop
will get a warm, but not hot,
12- to 20-week growing season.
In my climate, that means sowing
peas in late summer to mature in
late autumn, or in early spring to
mature before summer’s heat.
Ants adore pea seeds, and may
carry them off, especially in early spring.
A sudden wet, cold snap can rot seed
before it has a chance to germinate, too.
Try rolling the seed in a mix of old cooking
oil and white pepper or ground chilli.
Snails love pea plants, too. Place snail
pellets in old containers with a little door
cut out for the snails to enter.
Pea plants also need good feeding, but
not too good or you will get lush growth
and few peas. For pea perfection, hill
the soil, plant on the hill, then mulch with
compost in between the rows. If, like me,
you don’t have the organisational skills for
all this, do remember to give your peas
some tucker, and mulch between the rows.
The biggest risk of all? Kids in the
garden. Once kids learn how delicious
peas and snow peas are, picked straight
from the vine and popped into their
mouths, you may fi nd your crop vanishes
before it gets to the kitchen. Because
a fresh pea is a joy. Frozen peas are
okay, but they don’t have the sweetness
and the crunch of fresh ones.
Peas with roast chicken, peas through
rice, fresh pea soup, creamed pea sauce
on pasta... If I ever get to choose my fi nal
meal, it will contain peas – tiny, almost
fragrant, rushed from the garden to
the pot. By then – perhaps – I will even
have managed to grow a decent pea
crop – that is, one wherewe get to eat
(almost) all the peas. GA e biggest risk of all?
Kids in the garden. Once
kids learn how delicious peas
and snow peas are, picked
straight from the vine and
popped into their mouths,
you may nd your crop
vanishes before it gets
to the kitchen.