I planted out some pea seedlings yesterday.
Now, I had planned to germinate the seeds in a bag of compost so that I would pot on only the ones that germinated. This is a technique I got from Terry Walton’s Podcast, and it worked well enough for the broad beans. The idea being that you don’t waste your time or compost on seeds that don’t germinate.
Unfortunately I forgot to check the peas in the bag. By the time I peeked inside they had already put on an inch or two of growth. I tried to separate them but the roots were intertwined. I’d left them far too long.
Oh well! I decided to plant out the young peas, trying not to damage the roots too much as I prised them apart. I planted them in clumps of three (or four or five!) so that I disturbed the roots as little as possible, but also so that if some of them die off there should be another one standing by. I’ve also heard that peas like to grow in groups, their roots intertwining. Well, I had so many seeds that germinated that I thought I might as well put them all in.
Hopefully there is safety in numbers.
4th May 2008
