Pea problem

[herbalholly]

Morning!

I sowed spinach, beetroot, sorrel, calendula, chives and peas on the same day and all but the peas have come up and are doing fine. Do peas take longer (they've been in for 4 weeks) or should I sow some more?

Thanks

[sleepyowl]

Did you plant them too deep? that can delay them

[Odsox]

If the soil is warm enough for beetroot to germinate, I would have expected some sign of your peas after 4 weeks.
Best thing to do is have a poke about at the end of your pea row and see if you can find them, either with a shoot or not.
My guess is that they have all been eaten by mice, who have a very clever knack of finding every pea that you sowed and leaving no trace that the have done so .. not even little holes in the soil.

[herbalholly]

Thanks for your replies. I'll go and investigate!

[Annpan]

A rabbit ate my peas when I planted them in the Polytunnel, I didn't notice till weeks later.... doh!

[pumpy]

Peas can take a while to germinate if the soil is cold....... tho' i would've thought there should be some signs of life by now. When sowing, dig a narrow trench 2" deep, plant the peas about 2" apart. Don't over water at first, or they will rot in the soil........ just keep 'em moist.

[herbalholly]

No sign of my peas so I guess the mice have snuck them away. I don't mind that somehow, I can picture them going out with a lamp in the middle of the night and digging them up carefully with a miniture fork and then smoothing back the soil.

I'll try some more today

[Odsox]

The only problem is those little furry dears are just sitting there waiting for you to sow some more for them.
The only 100% guaranteed way of stopping them is not particularly green, but it's the way I've sown peas since I don't know when.
Put the pea seeds in a bowl and sprinkle some paraffin on them just to coat them and hey presto all your peas will stay where they're supposed to. Mice have very sensitive noses and the smelly paraffin masks the pea smell as well as making them unpalatable (for the mice)

[JulieSherris]

I can remember my old nan doing that Tony! I'd forgotten all about it too.

I think all my peas have sprouted this year - and it's all thanks to our very great white mouse hunter kitty, Jess.
I saw her with a mouse yesterday, she was slinging it around & pouncing on it again, as they do... she threw it, it landed... it sat up & when she put her nose forward, it batted her in the face!!! I was laughing so much that I picked her up, grabbed the mouse & put him over the fence in the woods!

[red]

I've given up sowing peas outside as they all get eaten - either mice have them or slugs eat the new shoots.

so instead i plant in trays - 35 to a large seed tray lined with newspaper. when the are grown enough to be putting out tendrils, i plant them, but digging a trench and slidding whole trayfuls - paper an all into trench.

[Odsox]

I've given up sowing peas outside as they all get eaten - either mice have them or slugs eat the new shoots.
so instead i plant in trays - 35 to a large seed tray lined with newspaper.

Yeah that's another 100% guaranteed way of keeping the mice at bay, providing they don't get in your greenhouse of course.
Not the solution for me though as I sow 3 packets of peas every year .. we like peas
The prospect of sowing 900 peas in 25 seed trays would be a tad daunting.

[red]

i have just finished sowing my last succession of peas - my sixth packet - two lots of early, one of purple podded, one of mange tout and two of late. yes. it is daunting... but we like peas

fresh peas are the best

[Millymollymandy]

Are you all talking about regular above ground mice digging down into your pea rows or the kind that I have, which live underground and create havoc in my veg patch and garden? They didn't eat my peas or broad beans though!

Can I ask a question to you pea growers? If I pinch off the shoots to eat them, will they carry on growing? Or is that it and the plant is over?

[dave45]

A whole packet of pea seeds planted 4 weeks ago has yielded just one seedling... now trying "chitting" them first (5 days in a sandwich box kept damp and washed every day has resulted in 70-80% shooted peas). Going to plant them out shortly

No trace of disturbed ground on the no-show peas.

[energysaving]

We don't seem to be troubled by mice (it'll be the cats) and have lots and lots of yummy pea shoots per the "Edible Garden" (27p a packet from Asda)

The really annoying thing is that the pea shoots for noshing are way, way healthier than my spindly pathetic mange tout. Ho hum. I'm seriously considering growing a couple, but am slightly concerned they'll pod in little red packets with a lion on 'em.