17/06/2026
Peas are loving this weather.
I've got snowpeas and sugar snap peas flowering at the moment with pods setting.
In the past I would direct sow seeds but found germination rates were quite low. Or so I thought. Turns out, after a few night time wanders through the garden, I discovered that wasn't the case. Instead, snails, slugs and slaters were nibbling on the tiny new shoots.
So I now sow seeds in punnets in the greenhouse and plant it when the seedlings are big. Survival rates are near perfect.
Like most of my crops, I plant in stages to try and create a longer, manageable harvest.
I planted another crop yesterday.
Peas are quite an easy crop to grow. They require very little fertiliser as they form a symbiotic relationship with rhizobium bacteria, which take nitrogen from the air (the atmosphere is 78% nitrogen) and convert it to ammonia, a form of nitrogen that plants use.
If you do fertilise your peas with a regular fertiliser you'll often end up with rapid growth, resulting in taller plants with less flowers and hence, less peas. Instead, using a fertiliser higher in potassium and phosphorus will promote flowering over leaf growth. My approach is a little bit of Gyganic or Culchar at planting and then regular additions of soil biota promoting liquids like Seasol or Popul8. No additional fertiliser after planting.
