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The autumnal peas conundrum

The 'to plant or not to plant' dilemma makes for a restless and stressful time. Here are a few useful tips on how to avoid the obvious pitfalls

Raging against the dying of the light, gardeners become so desperate for something to sow in autumn that you'll read all sorts of recommendations of vegetables that are "worth a go."

Peas always appear on that list. The idea is that by putting in a few rows of a hardy, round-seeded variety such as Feltham First or Meteor under cloches you can pick a crop in early spring - a few weeks before maincrop is ready.

I'm not convinced they're worth the effort. Occasionally I've had decent results from autumn peas but more often they're a disappointment. One major problem is mice, which will eat through a row of seeds in less time than it took to sow.

Any brief spell of mild weather will awaken the slugs who'll finish off any seedlings the mice happened to miss.

Cold itself doesn't cause much trouble - at least once the peas have germinated - but in prolonged wet weather young plants will just rot.

It's easy to end up in spring with a scattering of pea plants randomly punctuating a stretch of empty soil. They prevent you sowing something more useful in their place, but somehow it feels wrong to pull them up after all that trouble.

There is an alternative, though. If you have an unheated greenhouse, or one of those mini-greenhouses designed for patios and balconies, or a large cold frame in good repair try sowing some mangetout or sugar snap peas in October.

The seeds are still vulnerable to pests, of course, but by starting them off in pots you won't be wasting ground on any that don't come through.

You don't want the peas putting on too much growth this side of Christmas, so wait until there's a proper autumnal nip in the night air.

On a shelf in the greenhouse, somewhere with plenty of light, sow three seeds per three or four inch pot, in peat-free multipurpose compost. Even better, if you've got them, are the type of modular sowing trays which consist of small, deep cells, of a diameter which will just take one pea each. These encourage good roots, and are very easy to transplant.

Once the seedlings appear don't let them die of drought but be very careful not to over-water them. Water from beneath, into a drip tray or saucer, to lessen the risk of disease from splashed leaves.

If the plants get much too big for their containers, pot them on to a larger size, but otherwise leave them alone until a sunny day in mid-January when you can plant them directly into the soil of the greenhouse border, or into large pots. Put individual plants about three inches apart, or six inches for clumps. They'll soon need some wire or netting support to climb up.

The first pods should be ready to eat in mid-April. In a warm spring, I've had huge crops which were still going when I finally cleared them out to make room for the tomatoes.

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