Snow pea

The mangetout is annual: after harvest and seed ripening it dies off completely in autumn, and you need not store or dig up anything. Simply sow anew in spring (from March). Only special winter pea varieties such as ‘Frieda Welten’ you overwinter as young plants after an October sowing, and cover them with horticultural fleece or brushwood in severe frost without snow cover.

You propagate mangetout exclusively by direct sowing outdoors. Vegetative methods such as cuttings or division are not possible with this annual plant. Sow the seeds from mid-March to early April, as soon as the soil has warmed to at least 5 °C (sown later, the plant gives a smaller yield): draw drills 3 to 5 cm deep, lay the seeds every 5 cm and keep a distance of about 35 cm between the rows. Fill in the drills and press down lightly. Germination takes one to two weeks depending on the weather (about 10 to 14 days). Tall varieties need a climbing support of sticks or strings once they reach a height of about 20 cm. If you want to save your own seed for next year, at the end of the season leave some of the best pods on the plant to ripen fully and turn brown and dry before you take them off. Peas are strict self-pollinators, fertilisation already takes place at the bud stage, so crosses between varieties hardly occur; a safety distance of about 30 m from other pea varieties applies, as bumblebees occasionally visit the flowers. Make sure to propagate only open-pollinated varieties, because F1 hybrids do not come true. Dry the shelled seeds for another two to three weeks in an airy, warm but shaded place and store them cool, dark and dry; the seed stays viable for around three years that way and declines clearly afterwards.