I've tried so-called overwintered peas two years running now, and while
both lots germinated fine in Autumn, they all disappeared over Winter.

Normally I just plant the pea seeds directly in the ground but last year
that was a disaster too with most of the seedlings being snipped off
around an inch above ground by something.

Thought I'd try the grow-in-a-guttering method I'd heard mentioned on
here. What is the best time of year to do this? What length guttering
should I use... I've got an old bit of grey plastic guttering about 20
feet long I can cut up to the required lengths. Is it necessary to drill
any drainage holes in it? Do you use seed compost or normal garden soil
or what?

Thanks, for any advice.

"David in Normandy" wrote ...

I've tried so-called overwintered peas two years running now, and while
both lots germinated fine in Autumn, they all disappeared over Winter.

Normally I just plant the pea seeds directly in the ground but last year
that was a disaster too with most of the seedlings being snipped off around
an inch above ground by something.

Thought I'd try the grow-in-a-guttering method I'd heard mentioned on here.
What is the best time of year to do this? What length guttering should I
use... I've got an old bit of grey plastic guttering about 20 feet long I
can cut up to the required lengths. Is it necessary to drill any drainage
holes in it? Do you use seed compost or normal garden soil or what?


Sounds like mice, we have a serious problem with them too.
I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows, no drainage
holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line the guttering
with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into the drill. I use
cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the guttering spaced at
a few inches. You still need to keep them well out of the way of mice so we
plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser, and cart the plants down to
the plot when ready.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

Hello David

SNIP

Thought I'd try the grow-in-a-guttering method I'd heard mentioned on
here. What is the best time of year to do this? What length guttering
should I use... I've got an old bit of grey plastic guttering about 20
feet long I can cut up to the required lengths. Is it necessary to drill
any drainage holes in it? Do you use seed compost or normal garden soil
or what?

Thanks, for any advice.

I use 6 foot lengths of guttering which I rest on the front edge of my
greenhouse bench. I fill them with Multipurpose, and sow a double row of peas
about 2 inches apart ie about 70 peas in the 6 foot length. When planting i
slide the peas out of the gutter and spread them out along the row in small
clumps of 4 or so seedlings. There are no holes in the gutter. I find it easy
to judge the watering so that they are not continuously flooded. I shall be
planting the Heritage variety "Duke of Albany" in the next week or so.

John

--
John Rye
Hadleigh IPSWICH England
http://www.ryepad.plus.com
--- Using RISC OS Six on an Acorn StrongArm RiscPC and under VARPC ---

"Martin" wrote ...

"Bob Hobden" wrote:


I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows,

How many lengths per row?

no drainage
holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line the
guttering
with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into the drill. I use
cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the guttering spaced
at
a few inches. You still need to keep them well out of the way of mice so
we
plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser, and cart the plants down to
the plot when ready.

Are you using semi circular profile or rectangular profile guttering?

I cut the guttering into the size that fits my Defender, so 5ft lengths.
It's rectangularish section guttering as that is what was going cheap.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 21/02/2013 09:36, Bob Hobden wrote:
Sounds like mice, we have a serious problem with them too.
I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows, no
drainage holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line
the guttering with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into
the drill. I use cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the
guttering spaced at a few inches. You still need to keep them well out
of the way of mice so we plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser,
and cart the plants down to the plot when ready.

Thank you. I'll get the guttering cut to manageable lengths and give it
a try. Mine is half-round guttering rather than square section, so I
imagine it will be easier to slide out, but will use newspaper to line
anyway as suggested.

On Wednesday, 20 February 2013 19:58:35 UTC, David in Normandy wrote:
I've tried so-called overwintered peas two years running now, and while

both lots germinated fine in Autumn, they all disappeared over Winter.



Normally I just plant the pea seeds directly in the ground but last year

that was a disaster too with most of the seedlings being snipped off

around an inch above ground by something.



Thought I'd try the grow-in-a-guttering method I'd heard mentioned on

here. What is the best time of year to do this? What length guttering

should I use... I've got an old bit of grey plastic guttering about 20

feet long I can cut up to the required lengths. Is it necessary to drill

any drainage holes in it? Do you use seed compost or normal garden soil

or what?



Thanks, for any advice.

I use 1/2 round guttering in approx 1 metre lengths (that's what the offcuts I scrounged was) but it's easy to handle. I don't use newspaper but I do make sure the guttering is smooth and clean to help the sliding. Cheap multipurpose compost is fine, in Normandy any time now would be fine, I will probably do a few lengths of earlies next week here in N Wales and get germination started on the worktop in our utility room but as soon as they show they'll go into a mouseproof wiremesh frame out doors.
To help removal water well and then give a sharp knock against something like a fence post to start the slide into the drill.

Rod

On 21/02/2013 18:19, David in Normandy wrote:
On 21/02/2013 09:36, Bob Hobden wrote:
Sounds like mice, we have a serious problem with them too.
I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows, no
drainage holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line
the guttering with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into
the drill. I use cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the
guttering spaced at a few inches. You still need to keep them well out
of the way of mice so we plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser,
and cart the plants down to the plot when ready.

Thank you. I'll get the guttering cut to manageable lengths and give it
a try. Mine is half-round guttering rather than square section, so I
imagine it will be easier to slide out, but will use newspaper to line
anyway as suggested.

You will still have to protect them from the mice when you plant out.

On 21/02/2013 20:43, David Hill wrote:
On 21/02/2013 18:19, David in Normandy wrote:
On 21/02/2013 09:36, Bob Hobden wrote:
Sounds like mice, we have a serious problem with them too.
I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows, no
drainage holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line
the guttering with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into
the drill. I use cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the
guttering spaced at a few inches. You still need to keep them well out
of the way of mice so we plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser,
and cart the plants down to the plot when ready.

Thank you. I'll get the guttering cut to manageable lengths and give it
a try. Mine is half-round guttering rather than square section, so I
imagine it will be easier to slide out, but will use newspaper to line
anyway as suggested.

You will still have to protect them from the mice when you plant out.

1) What is the best way to do that?

2) How big should I let them grow before planting out... the mice or
whatever it was didn't bother with ones that were already 8 inches or so
high and the stem starting to harden off a little. Presumably at only 1
or 2 inches the seedling stems are still soft and juicy. Would it work
holding back on the planting until they were 8+ inches high?

"David Hill" wrote

, David in Normandy wrote:
Bob Hobden wrote:
Sounds like mice, we have a serious problem with them too.
I'm about to plant "Early Onward" now in guttering.
I use guttering in lengths to cover the length of two 20ft rows, no
drainage holes just have them at a slight angle so they drain out, line
the guttering with newspaper so the plants are easier to slide out into
the drill. I use cheap multipurpose and place two rows of peas along the
guttering spaced at a few inches. You still need to keep them well out
of the way of mice so we plant at home, our cat is an excellent mouser,
and cart the plants down to the plot when ready.

Thank you. I'll get the guttering cut to manageable lengths and give it
a try. Mine is half-round guttering rather than square section, so I
imagine it will be easier to slide out, but will use newspaper to line
anyway as suggested.

You will still have to protect them from the mice when you plant out.

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice leave them
alone.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice leave them
alone.

Which gives the slugs their chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 21/02/2013 23:17, wrote:
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice leave them
alone.

Which gives the slugs their chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


It's a pity there doesn't seem to be a polythene tube you could slip
over the guttering

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 21/02/2013 23:17, wrote:
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they
have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice leave
them
alone.

Which gives the slugs their chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


It's a pity there doesn't seem to be a polythene tube you could slip over
the guttering

have a look at:-

http://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/Plastic_tubing.html

Scroll down a bit and you will find layflat tubing. There are many
different sizes.

Bill

On 23/02/2013 22:31, Bill Grey wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 21/02/2013 23:17, wrote:
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they
have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice leave
them
alone.

Which gives the slugs their chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


It's a pity there doesn't seem to be a polythene tube you could slip over
the guttering

have a look at:-

http://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/Plastic_tubing.html

Scroll down a bit and you will find layflat tubing. There are many
different sizes.

Bill


Thanks for that! It's the "layflat tubing" terminology I was missing.
Maybe I can track down some shorter lengths on EBay

On 24/02/2013 09:45, stuart noble wrote:
On 23/02/2013 22:31, Bill Grey wrote:
"stuart noble" wrote in message
...
On 21/02/2013 23:17, wrote:
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

I have found that once the pea plants get beyond the stage where they
have a
pea attached, the seed leaves have lost their nutrients, the mice
leave
them
alone.

Which gives the slugs their chance.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


It's a pity there doesn't seem to be a polythene tube you could slip
over
the guttering

have a look at:-

http://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/Plastic_tubing.html

Scroll down a bit and you will find layflat tubing. There are many
different sizes.

Bill


Thanks for that! It's the "layflat tubing" terminology I was missing.
Maybe I can track down some shorter lengths on EBay

Why tubing?
just line it with a bit of polythene sheet.

have a look at:-

http://www.allplas.co.uk/acatalog/Plastic_tubing.html

Scroll down a bit and you will find layflat tubing. There are many
different sizes.

Bill


Thanks for that! It's the "layflat tubing" terminology I was missing.
Maybe I can track down some shorter lengths on EBay

Why tubing?
just line it with a bit of polythene sheet.

My guttering would be outdoors, so securing the edges might be a problem