GARDEN PEAS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 62, 10 September 1942, Page 6

GARDEN PEAS

Soils and Manuring.—While the best crops of green peas are grown on good loamy soils which are retentive of moisture yet well drained, fair crops may be taken from nearly all types of soil if a little care is taken in thenpreparation and cultivation. The manurial treatment should always be given careful consideration. As a general rule the heavier soils and those of a loamy nature should not receive a dressing of animal manure for this crop. Better results will be obtained by sowing in a place that has been well supplied with this type of manure for a previous crop, say, where celery was grown. On poorer or lighter types of soil, on the other hand, animal manures are permissible, and will greatly improve the yield. Instead of manuring the whole of the area where peas are going, on poor soils it is quite a good method to take out trenches where the pea rows are going, work in a dressing of manure into the bottom of the trench, replace the soil, and then sow. Remember that peas prefer a consolidated soil, so if you follow this method, firm the soil by treading before sowing. About a fortnight before sowing, a fertiliser mixture consisting of three parts of super- [ phosphate to one part sulphate of i potash may be worked into the soil with beneficial results. Unless the soil is in very good heart a further application of superphosphate, about 2oz to the yard run, hoed in at blossoming time, will greatly assist the pods to swell and develop.

It is, of course, always necessary to see that the soil is plentifully supplied with lime, for the failure of peas is often due to sourness of soil resulting from the lack of lime. Nitrogenous fertilisers should always be used with judgment, but weak or backward plants may be given a little nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia to strengthen them, care being taken not to sprinkle it actually on the plants. Use no more than one ounce to the yard run of row. Sowing:.—The seed should always be sown in broad, flat drills, the V-shaped dril] not being satisfactory, and should be covered to a depth of 1$ to 2| inches, according to the soil, the greater depths being for lighter soils. Plenty of room should be given between the rows, roughly the same distance as the normal height of the variety to be grown. Dwarf or semi-dwarf varieties should not be grown between rows of taller varieties. Each class should be by itself. By all means plant spinach

or lettuce or similar crops between the wider rows. Sow the seed thinly, but thick enough to ensure an even stand. If too thick when up the plants should be thinned out, as the best and largest pods are grown on plants that are not overcrowded. Care of the Crop.—ln some places peas are difficult to grow because of attacks by birds, slugs, and snails, but a little care at the right time will go a long way towards saving them. Birds, mainly sparrows, are apt to attack the seedlings as they come through the soil. A few strands of black cotton j stretched on short sticks about six j inches from the ground will usually af-1 ford protection, but if . the birds are j very persistent wire pea guards must1 be resorted to. Slugs and snails may be kept at bay by dusting a mixttire of lime and soot along the rows of young plants. In very bad attacks of slugs a poison bait or one of the proprietary remedies for the purpose should be used. Adequate support should always be given to rows of peas. If sticks are scarce they can be supported by string or thin wire stretched along each side of the row on sticks set at intervals If you have some wire netting of a large gauge this can be put to good use for the purpose.