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~ Seed for PEAS ~ One of you wrote across your order 'GARDENERS NEED PEAS!!!' a few years ago. We couldn't agree more, and now we're definitely getting there, after our latest trials. We have become interested in the possibilities of old-fashioned smooth-seeded peas, as well as the wrinkle-seeded varieties now more commonly grown . Smooth peas do go starchy more quickly once the pods get big, and so have to be picked young & small for a good sweet flavour. But they have a big advantage too - they are much less likely to rot in cold wet soil, so you can risk a much earlier sowing. We now like to sow smooth-seeded pea varieties for our early crops, and then wrinkle-seeded ones for the maincrop once the soil has warmed up. In warmer areas sow smooth-seeded varieties in late autumn for early crops the next year. Here are some of both kinds for you to try, listed in order of cropping. Dwarf Pea Seed Hatif d'Annonay An improved early pea from France - the name means 'Early Pea from Annonay', and this is a very popular variety of ours. It does what it says! The small bushes really don't seem to need any support and do very quickly load up with lots of nice dark green pods. For those of you who have problems with maggots attacking your peas, dwarf plants can more easily be covered with netting to keep the pea moths away. Smooth seeds, so can be sown pretty early, but must pick small for sweetness. Ideal for a first-early sowing. Order PeHA - 200 seed £1.74 Climbing Pea Seed   Serpette Guilloteau A traditional climbing pea from France, medium tall to 1.5 m high, with curved pods filled with nice fat peas. As far as we have been able to trace it, the name is derived from an old French word for a type of pruning knife blade, reflecting the sickle-shape of the pods! Classed as 'semi - early' this makes a good second-early or maincrop pea, with particularly high yields in both cases. Smooth seeds, can be sown early, but pick small for sweetness. Fast growing, curved pods, slightly flattened sweet peas. Order PeSG - 250 seed £1.69 Telephone Pea (very tall) Now this is a well known variety that has stood the test of time. A tall vine that produces mid-season, here we recommend it as an early-maincrop pea. For us it grows to a good five feet tall, though others have written in to say that it gets taller for them. Although various sub-strains have been developed over the years, its hasn't really changed from the description of 'Carter's Telephone Pea' in Vilmorin's famous book of 1885 on vegetable gardening. It has heavy yields of large pods with sweet, non-starchy peas inside. We find that the pods always swell up a bit before the peas fill out, so don't be fooled into picking too early! This year they were ready to eat starting in mid-July, on over the summer, which is pretty good given what a cold year it has been. Wrinkled seed, stays sweet longer in pods - but don't sow in cold wet conditions. Medium tall vine, use as maincrop. Order PeTE - 240 seed £1.74 (And yes, to those that are wondering about the dating on this, we wondered too if this was quite right, but we checked, and the word 'telephon' (without the e) was in use by 1854 and the first patent was in 1876 by Bell, although his work was preceded by several other people. The real question is, of course, why should Carter want to call his pea after an effect first noticed when people were given electro-shock therapy in 1846? (their screams were transmitted over the wires they were holding). . . . They are a very good pea nonetheless! Feedback? Mr P Woodcock of Norwich phoned to tell us: "I've been gardening for years and years and the variety of tall pea Telephone is fabulous! It beats Alderman hands down. I took them down into the pub and put them on the counter and showed them round. What do you think of that then? I asked them, everyone thought they were fantastic." "Champion of England " Tall Pea: NEW! - VERY RARE Our new pea for 2010! The conclusion of a 3-year rescue project, here is your chance to grow a traditional UK variety that has been commercially extinct for years. Champion of England is a really good, traditional tall pea to 8 - 10 ft, dating from the 1840's. But it's been unavailable , other than seedbanks, for a long time now. A few people sent us small samples of seed from time to time, but we couldn't get them to grow. All that changed in 2007 though, when Robert Woodbridge got in touch with a new strain of family-saved seed from Lincolnshire in the 1940's. It grew really well, and more importantly, was true to the old descriptions. It was fantastic - the only reason tall peas have been abandoned commercially is that you can't harvest them with machines. But for home gardeners, they give a great return for a small space. So, after a few seasons, we have bulked it up from his original handful, and have a very precious half -sack of seed now that you can try. We'll let him give the history in his own words: "I am going to send you some seeds of a Pea called Champion of England, my grandmother grew it in her very large garden in the village of Pickworth Lincs, I promised that I would always grow it and keep it going. She got the seed from the head gardener at a big country house during the war where my grandfather worked as a carpenter repairing wooden greenhouses and cold frames. As to the pea it grows to ten foot high and the peas are 8 to 10 per pod and you start picking from the bottom and work your way up, it prefers to be sown at the end of April to avoid the pea moth maggot and takes about 100 days to reach 10 ft." For us this was an amazing find. It's the genuine tall strain, well maintained over the years, and we even know the location it came from. We think Robert's grandmother would be pleased to know her seeds have saved this variety for gardeners everywhere. Although we're hoping to grow lots more next year you never know what will happen, so if you like it you should check out our seed-saving instructions! Very rare - hence the smaller packet. But 100 seeds should be plenty to be honest, as it is really productive. Order PeCE - 100 seed £2.65 [CO1] ~ Mange-tout Pea Seed ~ 'Golden Sweet' Yellow-Podded Mange-tout pea ON SPECIAL OFFER This is a beautiful yellow podded pea that is very sweet eaten fresh or cooked. A rare variety, so do keep your own seed if you like it. We have grown many mange-tout peas (if you've not tried them, you eat the wide flat pods) over the years but this one has always stood out head and shoulders above the others. It is a superb mange-tout pea, with beautiful yellow pods, tall productive vines, and a delicious crisp flavour. The flowers are purple, & the pods are a wonderful lemon yellow colour, so we actually grow it in our front garden as a decoration! The yellow pods easy to see for picking, and great both raw in salads, or cooked, or stirfried. Order PeGO - 100 seed for just £1.57 [CO1] Feedback? Everyone loves them! E.g. Clare Maple, via email: "We are currently growing a crop of these peas. Our neighbour, himself a traditional gardener but always open to new stuff, was interested in them. We all shared a few, fresh off the plant, and agreed that they are probably the best tasting peas we have ever had." 'Bijou' Giant Sugar Pea (HUGE edible-pods) We're really excited about this. Years ago we were given just a few seed of an old pea called Bijou, which makes HUGE mange-tout pods. This sort of pea - real old fashioned Giant Sugar Peas - used to be very popular but are now almost completely extinct. With the help of Seed Savers Exchange, we have manged to bring it back into circulation. Three years ago we started multiplying up the original handful of peas, and by the second harvest last year we had a kilo of seed. We had to do some careful reselection work as a few weren't the right type, but we did get it cleaned up and true to the original type in the end. So last spring we sent this very precious kilo of 'foundation' seed - the only quantity of it in existence - off for trial production. All went well and in due course we received back one small sack of very precious seed after harvesting and drying. Here it is then, after a 3 year project, this is our own reintroduction of a proper Giant Sugar Pea as used to be grown the 1880’s. It matches the original description and engravings perfectly, even down to the pattern on the seeds and the number of seeds per gram. We hope you enjoy it! You eat the whole pod raw or cooked. They're sweet and tender - & so huge that just a few pods are enough for salad or supper. Order PeBi - approximately 100 seed £2.25 [CO1] Very ,very rare, practically extinct, so do save your own seed and pass it on - our sack won't last forever. The pods are so big they're just silly. ~ Saving Pea Seed ~ Peas don't in general cross very easily, so you can save seed from several varieties without worry. Here is our 'Golden Sweet' harvest. But be sure that you don't plant types with similar-coloured seeds next to each other, otherwise you'll not be sure which plant they come from! The tricky bit is getting your pea plants picked when they are fairly dry - we hang ours on an indoor washing line if it's rainy! Then just stomp the peas out of their pods. More detailed seed-saving instructions are included with your seeds, so you can do all this yourself at home.