Pea Support Posts

[Alison and Keith WoollacottParticipant]

Charles,

In your recent video (Growing peas for pods) you describe putting in 6′ posts to support the plants; how do you manage to get them in without damaging / disturbing the plants? I am assuming you have 2 or 3 feet in the ground which indicates a 9 / 10 foot pole. Our allotment only has about 12 / 18 inches of soil before hitting bedrock (Somerton) – trying to drive a post that size is likely to disturb the plants.

[StringfellowParticipant]

I use a long crow bar to create the hole and then drive them in with a sledge hammer about 18 – 24” HTH

[charlesModerator]

Stringfellow has it although mine are 14-16″ / 35-40cm in the soil, and they are 8 ft posts. None blew over yet.
We put them in when plants are c. 6in/15cm high, sometimes a bit more and it’s a myth about root disturbance, just a few tiny ones may be damaged, just look at the growth.

[HawfinchParticipant]

I also have a question after having watched the pea video. In your latest book you write that tall peas are spaced 10×121 – does that mean ten cm between plants, or clumps of two, and 121 cm between rows? It just confuses me as in the video it looks like the two rows of Alderman are much closer than that.

[Author]

Posts