Difficulty Easy-peasy. The only difficulty you should have with peas is getting them to sprout, but if you germinate them first using the steps below you can’t go wrong. If you have mice in your garden, they will sniff out and eat unsprouted peas

Where Sunny position, cooler climates

Soil Loose to heavy soils, any PH, moderately free-draining

When From early March to late July

Preparation Dig soil to a depth of 15cm and attach horizontal rows of string 10cm apart stretched between 2 posts before planting

Planting from seed Arrange a handful of peas on a sheet of kitchen roll, cover with another sheet, likely soak with water and put into a bag in the fridge for a few days until they grow 2cm white roots

Take the germinated peas from the fridge and plant 2cm deep directly underneath the rows of string. Plant each pea 3-5cm apart. You can plant all at once or some each week up to the end of July to extend the harvest season from late May/early June to the end of September/early October. Depending on the weather the seedlings should emerge in 1 to 3 weeks.

Care None needed. The pea plants will send tendrils out in all directions looking for the support strings and will climb up themselves

Feeding None needed

Harvest Most peas, apart from the taller varieties like Alderman, can be eaten as mangetouts and are ready to harvest as soon as they are over 5cm long, bright green and still mostly flat. Harvest as peas when the outside of the pods have started to be speckled with brown rust spots

Storage Best eaten within an hour of picking, but peas removed from pods can be frozen for a couple of months

Saving Seed Leave some of the ripe pods on the plant until they turn brown and are ready to fall off the plant. Remove the peas and dry out on some kitchen roll on a dry window sill for a couple of days. Store these seed peas in a sealed paper bag in a cool, dry, dark place until the next spring. Seed peas are only good until the next growing season and generally won’t be any use if stored more than 7 months

Varieties Sugarsnaps can be eaten as mangetout even when mature. Aldermans are the most pea-tasting pea there is and grow to over 2 metres tall

Pests Mice will dig out and eat seed planted directly into the ground, so it’s best to pre-germinate them. Slugs are a danger until the seedlings are about 20cm tall