Description
Pea 'Douce Provence' is a first early variety, good for early and autumn sowing. It produces very sweet peas on compact plants and is a reliable variety producing large crops. The compact plants also make this variety perfect for pots.
| When to Sow | Feb/March (indoors or undercover) to July (direct outdoors). Oct and Nov ( direct outdoors) for overwintering. |
| Where to Sow | Peas prefer well drained , fertile soil which has been manured the previous autumn. |
| Sow indoors or in a greenhouse/cold frame in Feb/March, in modules. Sow 5cm (2in) deep and 5cm (2in)apart. | |
| Sow direct in a flat bottom, weed free, drill 5cm (2in) deep and 10cm (4in) wide from April onwards. Space seeds 5cm (2in) apart, in the drill, and then cover with soil and firm down with the end of a rake. Space each drill 60cm apart to allow access for picking. | |
| What to do Next | Protect early seedlings outdoors from birds and to encourage growth with either a fleece or cloche. |
| When seedlings planted in modules are well established and hardened off, transfer to their final growing position. Space modular plants 5cm (2in) apart around pea sticks or support frames. | |
| Once seedlings are established, only water if conditions are very dry as overwatering at this stage encourages leafy growth at the expense of pods. Once the flowers appear, increase watering to encourage pod formation. | |
| Mulch heavily around the base of the plants as soon as seedlings established to keep weeds down. | |
| Dwarf varieties of pea are self supporting, however if planted in an exposed area supports such as pea sticks, netting, trellis or string between canes may be useful. | |
| Harvest | May to September. |
| Handy Tips | To improve the chances of success of early sowings cover the seed bed with either a cloche or fleece, a couple of weeks prior to sowing to warm up the soil. |
| To increase the cropping season, sow pea seeds successionally every 2 weeks. | |
| If you are short on space, a catch crop of radish or lettuce can be sown between the pea drills, which can be harvested before the peas are ready to be picked. | |
| This is an open pollinated variety so you can save seeds and they will come true to type next year. | |
| Companion Planting | Good Companions: Beans, Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Parsnips, Potatoes, Radishes, Spinach and Turnips. Bad Companions: Garlic and onions. |
| Nutritional Information | A good source of Vitamin A and Vitamins C, B1 and folic acid. |
| Serving Suggestion | If they make it to the kitchen and are not eaten straight from the pod in the garden like ours, shelled peas are best cooked within 30 minutes of being harvested to preserve the sweet flavour. Lightly boil and served with a knob of butter. The young pea shoots can also be picked and eaten raw or lightly cooked. |
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