I have been saving seed from a tall pole pea variety (Alderman) for many years now and they seem to be adapting to our growing conditions. They stay green, healthy, and productive far longer then any other pea we have grown. The one drawback being they don't climb very well, I am forever tending them as they attempt to ascend our pea fence. So this spring we are also growing an afila type bush pea for the first time and were attracted to this particular variety because they are supposed to have few leaves and many grasping tendrils. Imagine, a pea that can actually grab onto a support fence without human intervention. :)
We shall see how they do. I normally opt for pole peas as bush peas seem to develop a myriad of issues in our garden... slugs, rot, etc. The afila peas are supposed to be self supporting but I did set up a short fence for them and they are latching on like crazy. I really don't know much more about them at this point, perhaps they will do really well for us, time will tell.
4 comments:
I don't really have much to say about peas except that I love the way they taste. ;) Yours look so orderly and doing their jobs by latching on to the fence. We put in some bush lima beans, which I think are turning out to be pole lima beans. We'll see... Hope you had a great day! :) Silke
I never even knew there were pole peas. Fascinating...
Silke,
I decided to skip the lima beans this year as I plum ran out of room. You will have to keep me informed on how yours do. I tried to grow them last year for the first time and they did not do very well. Maybe next year.
Amara,
Yes, pole peas... it seems like most people grow the bush type pea though. Ours are more of a "wanna be" pole pea. Perhaps they should be called a half hearted pole pea. Really, they produce great as long as I baby them up the pole all summer.
Thanks for stopping by,
Mike
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