How and What to Grow in a Kitchen Garden of One Acre (10th Ed)/Peas
PEAS.
The first planting should be made in the spring, as soon as the ground can be prepared. It is my practice to sow three varieties at the first planting, and two varieties at each subsequent one, kinds being sown which will mature in succession, one being ready to pick about the time the preceding one is past. The same result may be obtained by making plantings of the same sort a week apart. I think my way the easier, and besides, relish the variety. A drill of fifty feet would probably be sufficient for an ordinary family to have in bearing, but as my own family is large and very fond of this vegetable, and insist upon having them upon the table every day in the season when it is possible to grow them, I find a full row across the garden none too many to have in bearing at one time.
For several years past I have given up raising the tail growing peas requiring brush or sticks for their support, as it is not easy to procure sufficient brush for a garden of this size, unless you have a convenient woods upon which to draw, and even then it takes a great deal of labor to get the brush and stick the peas; while it takes more than twice as long to clear the ground for the succeeding crop, and the rows must be planted at a greater distance apart, to admit of cultivation.
The quality of the dwarf kinds is fully as good as of the tall growing ones, and in many kinds the crop borne is fully as prolific; the only strong point that I know of in favor of the brushed peas, is that the pickers do not growl half so much at picking them as they do over the lower growing ones, and that some of the varieties can be had later in the summer, as their height serves to shade the ground between the rows and thus keeps it cool. As for the growls of the picker, the short vines admit of no loafing place, and no true gardener or lover of his craft ever seems to be aware that he has such a thing as a spine (except on his cucumbers) till he tries to straighten up at the end of the day’s work.
For sowing the seed, plow a drill as deeply as possible with the hand plow; sow the seed thickly, say a quart to 200 feet of drill, and cover by plowing the dirt back again; when the hand-plow is not among the assortment of tools, scrape a drill three inches deep and as broad as the blade of the hoe, scatter the seed the whole breadth of the drill, using about one-third more seed than above directed, and then press them into the bottom of the drill with the sole of the boot, covering the fine dirt in afterward with a steel rake; this takes longer to do, but is a much better way to plant them when the time can be spared; the row being broader it gives the plants more room, and the seed being planted more deeply will better withstand the hot weather. For the very earliest planting the seed should only be covered about an inch deep, and more soil can be drawn around them when well started. The successive plantings of peas should be kept up until the middle of June; those planted later than this will mildew, and not fill out the pods, unless in a cool and shady situation. The plantings should be resumed about the first week in August, and three successive plantings, about ten days apart, should be made. The vines and pods of these peas will most likely mildew, but the peas that you will get in the cool days of the fall will be the finest in quality, of the whole season. In selecting the sorts to plant, the wrinkled varieties will be found of better quality than the smooth kinds, the latter requiring to be picked while quite young, as they become hard, while the wrinkled ones remain longer in good condition.
VARIETIES OF PEAS.
Burpee’s Extra Early.—This is a remarkably early selection of the well-known Philadelphia Early. It is the first variety to ripen, ripens nearly all its
BURPEE’S EXTRA EARLY PEA.
pods at one time, and is very sweet and tender when cooked; the vines grow about two feet in height, but can easily be supported by driving stakes every few feet and confining the vines with twine running from one stake to another.[1]
American Wonder.—This little fellow is really a wonder, as it grows only eight to ten inches in height and is literally covered with pods. It is remarkably
AMERICAN WONDER PEAS.
early, ripening in from thirty-five to forty days, and in succulent sweetness cannot be surpassed.
Extra Early Premium Gem.—This variety is about ten days later than the American Wonder, and grows from twelve to fourteen inches in height. The peas are remarkably fine in quality, and I have planted it for several years as my main variety.
Pride of the Market—A new pea that I have grown the past two seasons, and find of very superior merit. The price of the seed has been too high to admit of extensive planting, but with these three dwarf kinds, the only ones planted for the table this last season, I can say that I have never been better supplied, or with finer peas. This variety grows about a foot and a half in height and bears a very heavy crop of pods, which latter and the peas that they contain are of unusual size and substance.[2]
LAXTON’S EVOLUTION PEA.
Laxton’s Evolution.—This variety is a novelty in the way of peas; in the other varieties the object having been of late years to have the pods all mature as nearly as possible at the same time; this object has been sought for the benefit of the market gardeners, while in this new variety we have a kind which will, from its everbearing habits, be a great boon to the family gardener. The vines grow about three feet high, and bear continuously, for a space of nearly three months, an abundance of handsome, large pods, each of which contains eight to ten wrinkled peas, the pods being borne in clusters of two, which facilitates the picking. Like all wrinkled varieties, the quality of this remarkable pea is most excellent.
BURPEE’S QUANTITY.
Champion Of England.—This is a large growing late sort, and is very productive, with peas of delicious flavor. The vines grow to four or five feet in height, and this past summer I ate them in perfection fully a month after the other varieties had disappeared from the table.[3]
- ↑ Equally as early is Laxton’s Earliest of All, which is a blue-seeded variety, of very fine quality and handsome appearance.—Ed.
- ↑ The Stratagem is also a remarkably fine pea, of the same type as Pride of the Market, except that the large, handsome peas are wrinkled.—Ed.
- ↑ Mr. Darlington’s remarks on the varieties of peas would be incomplete without reference to two remarkable now peas, obtained by crosses made some years since, but only now (1888) being introduced. These peas have been called Burpee’s Quantity (which is illustrated above), and Burpee’s Quality,—the former because it is the most productive of all, as many as ninety pods having been counted upon a single vine—the latter, because, while also very productive, it excels other varieties in its peculiarly rich, sugary flavor. Both varieties grow two and a half feet high, but will well repay brushing, and both are main-crop peas,—Burpee’s Quantity being ready for the table in about two months, and Burpee’s Quality in seven weeks from planting.
Probably no one in America is better posted as to the relative value in the garden of the different peas than Mr. William Falconer, Glen Cove, N. Y., the well-known writer on garden topics. A few peas of Burpee’s Quantity (then known as No. 75) were sent to Mr. Falconer for trial. On Oct. 28th, 1887, he writes, “The pea, No. 75, I had from you this year has given me much satisfaction; indeed, so well pleased am I with it that I wish to grow it next year as a main crop. Season medium to late, grows two and a half feet, and in the way of Abundance; peas large, closely packed together in tight pods, and, when cooked, of capital quality. Without any exception, the heaviest cropper among all my peas this year.”—Ed.