My Tiny PlotLate Sowing of Mangetout
I made a super-late (July) sowing of Mangetout this year and they have really done me proud. Much of the main beds (and my Pea sticks) were taken up with an early sowing of Peas this year, but once they had gone over I sowed some Mangetout.
I have never sown Peas or Mangetout this late before. They just seem like a Spring crop to me (even though I know you can grow them all summer long). But I’ll definitely be trying this again as the size of the pods is great and they’re a welcome crunchy, Spring-like snack at this time of year when everything seems to be mellowing and flopping over.
They look great!
I’m sure they will taste delicious as well
Here in japan, at this season it’s very common to have some pan fried with a little bit of salt whenever you have beef. They go very well together.
Ooh, fab idea. I need to get myself more organised and learn to sow successionally!
the plant looks healthy, and it rekindles the gardening spirit as others are yellowing..
Great idea! Will definitely try it next year. Just what you need when everything else is looking tired…
I also did a late sowing of mangetout as I couldn’t bear the thought of the first one finishing, I love them that much.
My second sowing is still ticking along but there are signs of them slowly coming to an end. Next year I will grow more rows than I did this year and a second sowing a bit earlier than this year.
The mangetout blog makes me actually write a comment I have in mind for some time now. As you are organised so much better than most of us, please do mention when you saw, especially the early or late options. (and don’t suffice by making us regret later on that we didn’t do it when you did and we are now stuck missing lovely mangetouts)
And yes, we all have to make a plan but the gap between theory and practice can be large.
Our group of 3 kitchen gardeners were organizing seeds last week (and putting them in Exel) and by organizing we found out that there actually are a few beans which can still be harvested in October for instance.
I would welcome any suggestions for what can still be sawed now, other years this was no problem but the cold and rainy August already made us feel autumny for some time now. And it also didn’t help that many things we sawed or replanted end of July hardly grew…
These are lovely raw so long as they are young. Sliced at and angle mangetout (Rodney) make a lovely addition to a summer salad. Crisp and yummy.
That’s really interesting. Always a good idea to stretch the season out a bit more as the weather doesn’t usually get really cold until December. I saw a really late sowing of a variety of runner bean called Lady Di – they were planting them at Wisley in July!
What a lovely photo! I sowed some mange tout in a pot on 19 July and kept them in my conservatory … They’ve flowered beautifully but there aren’t an awful lot of pods. And now the leaves are starting to go yellow. Not sure if that’s them starting to die off or what. Next year I’ll sow them MUCH sooner!
Strangely enough, you can grow peas indoors all over winter. You just need a south-facing window, some tinfoil behind the plants to throw back the light and a cat-free house. I once grew runner beans up the bathroom shower rail (true!) with the root balls in my wife’s bidet. (She’s almost forgiven me…)
Runner beans in the BATHROOM?? You are kidding, right? How did they cope with the steam and heat from the shower?!