Call me lazy but I lately I hate growing climbing plants. It's the extra effort of putting up the supports, tying them in and making sure they stay up.
Trouble is there's lots of plants I want to grow that are not dwarf varieties. These two peas as are a good example, Bijou mange tout and a Latvian soup pea, both grow big and need good supports (seed bought form The Real Seed Catalogue) so a few sprigs of hazel weren't really going to cut it!
I had a look a bout the place and found some lengths of concrete reinforcing bar about 8ft (2.4m) long. That was going to take some bending from the weight of a few peas! I had six lengths, perfect for two beds.
Stood on one of my saw horses I knocked them in with a sledge hammer. I kept going until they were stood six feet out of the ground.
Then with the aid of two young assistants I tied string every six inches up the bars (they held the string for me), I'm hoping this will prove strong enough for them, I've not grown climbing peas before, normally I stick to dwarf ones, so I've no idea how it will hold up.
What do you use for pea supports?
How big do your climbing varieties get?
Do you think my supports will be strong enough or should I upgrade the string?
the peas I grow are tall heritage ones from Victoriana Nursery, they grow 8ft, I have a couple of unused small polytunnel frames that are covered with netting, I grow peas up these, the frames can be moved to whichever bed I am using, I dont like dwarf peas, they take up the same ground space but you get less returns.
ReplyDeleteSpace isn't such an issue here, although that said I never grow many peas normally, we love them though so I'm making more of an effort this year.
DeleteA roll of chicken wire, if you have any lying about, attached to your metal bars might do the trick instead of the string.
ReplyDeleteGood idea! I might have to change it for that.
DeleteI use those "hog panels"--4 ft high, 16 ft long cut in half to make two 8 ft tall panels. My sugar snaps generally grow to 6 foot tall.
ReplyDeleteI think your idea is clever and should work very well.
We have growm Alderman pea before, up canes. Lovely flavour. Growing dwarf ones this year though.
ReplyDeleteI just have a small backyard garden and I've never grown peas before but I'm growing beans this year.
ReplyDeleteThe chicken wire sounds like a good idea.
The problem with metal posts & mesh is that they can get very hot in a spell of good weather & damage the plants on them. Plastic mesh is kinder to plants.
ReplyDeleteI use plastic bean mesh (square mesh) usually bought from a Pound shop & hang it over a cane cross bar supported at each end between two crossed upright canes & cable-tied in place for stability . Each end of the mesh is tent pegged into the soil (pegs also from the Pound shop). This speedily put up frame is about 4-5 ft tall & double sided for two 4ft rows of peas. I also grow 7ft yellow podded mangetout peas up bean mesh wrapped around a cane teepee (cable-tied at the top for speed).