Peas - kinds of supports / pea type?

Hello melissa,

Well first off, if you have dwarf vines you can just let them grow without support and throw a net over them and they will do just fine. The alternative is to sink a few stakes (that come to about mid-thigh)in the ground along their rows and span a length of galvanized chicken wire the full length. On our complex the folks who grow the dwarfs are split about 75-25% in favour of the knee-high supports. An important thing with peas is to cover them with netting to keep the birds off.

You asked for recommendations for taller green pea types.
I can suggest two types: Purple-podded Capucijner "Blauwschokker" and the "Ne Plus Ultra".
You will need to build a rack for these and some people prepare the ground for them in a special way. I have done that and I have just planted them in plain ground and had succes both ways, but with "special preparation" that were slightly more productive. Whether it's worth the extra trouble or not, is a personal choice.
Peas like a sunny place with a well-dug soil and with lots of organic material (if you want to go the extra mile).
I have found that they like...or should I say require quitre a bit of water, especially during dry spells.
You have mentioned that you have plants for the dwarf variety, and you could do the same for the taller types, or sow them in the soil directly under the rack. You ouight to sow them sometime between March and June...you could sow them in a staggered fashion to have peas continuously for a couple of months.
I have included some pics below:

This is an example of the sort of rack that I was speaking of.

Here it is full, so that you can see how tall it needs to be (about 6 ft.)

A harvest shot.

And a close-up of the peas themselves.
Don't they look delicious?

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html

Petunia, on another rack that I erected for a different sort of pea in the old garden I planted a raised-from-seed cucumber treated with EM at either end.
As an experiment I dug a deep hole and then put in layers of manure, dirt, compost horse manure and compost mixed with bone meal...and on the other end, I just planted the cuke plant in the regular soil (no frils and thrills). I gave them both the same amount of water at the same time on the same days throughout the season, and you would not believe the difference in plant habitus and yield.
The layered pit was the winner hands down at an eye-opening rate of 40-something to 8! I would have had way more than that except I cut off every side branch that formed so that the main stem would grow longer. I didn't need any more cukes obviously.
I was astounded at the yield.
I don't know if I shall ever grow cucumbers again, but if I do, I know how to plant them now. Smile

hahahaha.

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html