Hillingdon Allotment News 15: Peas on Trial

In the last newsletter in my musings on peas, pests and potatoes, I touched on the subject of my trials between Greenshaft and Onward. I also planted some Waverex but these being a different type (petit pois) were not included in the final assessment. Well, the results are now in the freezer, so how did they compare with each other and with last years results?

Greenshaft; Waverex and Onward, showing variation in pod shape and size.

Due to weather the conditions in April, hot and dry if you recall, the plants went out in the soil in early May about a month behind the previous year’s plants, although this did not seem to make a difference to the overall result due to the wet summer. Both types grew well although they did suffer some wind damage due to my inadequate staking and had a little mildew towards the end due to the damp weather.

The plants were cleared at the end of July after two pickings. Both Greenshaft and Onward had up to nine peas in the pods although Onward did have a few misses in the pods which lowered the final weight of this variety. Due to the shape of the pods and the slightly smaller peas, Onward were easier to shell while Greenshaft had very full pods right up to the end and were difficult to get started. The final result was that I had forty percent more peas from Greenshaft than Onward which was an increase on either of the two varieties Rondo and Lincoln that I grew last year, however this increase could have been due to the wetter weather this last year, so would need to be repeated to get an average result.

This coming year I shall grow Canoe which has had an excellent press and perhaps Greenshaft again as another comparison.

Editor - David England

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