My Tiny PlotTime to Deploy the Peasticks
After a wonky start due to some cheeky little mice my Peas are doing very well. I have virtually a whole row of them that are about an inch and half tall. That’s means only one thing, it’s time to deploy the Peasticks that I half-inched borrowed from a local estate.
My Peasticks lead a solitary life. Housed for most of the year in my potting shed, they are suddenly called up for duty in mid Spring and dispatched accordingly.
I don’t just use them for Peas you know – oh no. They have a plethora of uses, from holding up floppy Cornflowers, to doubling as Mangetout holders, and they have even been known to come to the rescue of a Sunflower or two. Yes, they’re very useful and in my opinion you can never have too many of them.
There will always be casualties. Like today for instance. I thrust one of them into the soil only to find I’d hit a stone and the whole thing broke in half – unfixable, it was.
This is not the only way to support Peas but I do love the rustic look that they give. And they’re pretty darn good at their job too.
What have you got planned for supporting your Peas? Any novel ideas?
I can’t use twiggy pea sticks as they are exactly the type of stick that Ernie (Border Terrier) likes to take into the middle of the lawn and chew to peices. This year I have used the small hooped over canes and mini wigwams of 4ft canes. I have to wind fishing line between them to encourage the little tendrils to hook on.
oooh that Ernie! – wish I had a dog :(
great idea – much more visually appealing (and cost effective!) than bamboo. i’ll be sure to try this.
is it too late to start off my peas?
My peas are starting to grow up a trellis on the side of a tree house without a tree.
My peas got off to a flying start, only to be munched by pigeons at about the 3″ stage because I didn’t protect them. Not sure if they will recover now…. :(
I normally use buddleia prunings for pea sticks…timing about right if you put them in after sowing the peas.
And with pigeons always use CD’s deployed on bits of string tied to the sticks. That and despatching the dog after them at every opportunity! Fortunately he’s more of a ball than a stick sorta dog :)
Peasticks are looking good! I have a feeling I let my peas grow too tall/ leggy before planting out & now they’ve decided to flop over rather than climb, I’m busy with uni stuff at the moment so I hope they don’t get eaten by something before I get the chance to force them to cling to their supports.
I love you peasticks. My peas were doing great until a hoard of tiny mini slugs found them and made paper doilies out of their leaves. Sigh….now I have green sticks with a small terracotta pot on top so I don’t poke my eye out when I bend over them. :-) If you have any ideas on getting rid of mini slugs, please let me now! M
Thanks for the timely reminder, I usually leave it too late before I stake things. I hadn’t thought about anything other than canes but these are much more attractive!
Mine will grow against the fence I built last year from the branches/trim that came off the trees of our driveway, it’s kind of a wattling fence. But I need to build a raised bed at the base of it first, one thing that has been on the top of my chores list for the past week.
Your peas look lovely.
I am using some of the trimmings from a couple of my shrubs as pea sticks – they are free, they look good and they are bristly enough to keep the cats away. I might need to put them in to protect my leeks and brussels from the cats too.
The cold winter has finished off several shrubs (pieris and lavatera) so there is no shotage of bean sticks this year. In fact the pea patch looks like a blasted forest just now waiting for the peas to grow up.
Your peasticks look very nice – as do the pea plants! I haven’t planted peas this year, but maybe it’s not too late? There’s always the possibility of a fall planting. I am also prone to waiting too long, ending up with the undesired “leggy look” as another commenter mentioned. I’ll have to remember your peasticks.
I have a trusty trelllis that is put into service every year.
What about using some of the now redundant MPs – although this said they do tend to bend according to which way the wind is blowing!
Nothing too novel – I have purple podded mange tout climbing a sturdy permanent trellis as they grow to 6ft and nothing less can support them. My regular peas are all heading up peasticks – various shrub cuttings from around the garden: strawberry tree, laurel hedge, forsythia, etc. I tend to place the peasticks when I sow – that way I know exactly where the rows will be coming up.
Yes, I posted a picture a couple of blogs ago about my peasticks. I used the tops of the Jerusalem Artichoke sticks. Lots of little branches and very light… and free!
Ah your peas are so much bigger than mine! Mine are about 1/2 an inch tall. I have 3 white trellises for my peas. I attached gold rimmed plates to the trellis, painted the plates to spell out GARDEN GROW and I painted flowers around the letters.
I hope peas can read! LOL!
Our best pea sticks are tall beech hedging bare root plants…unfortunately to get them you have to buy bare root plants and ignore them for a few seasons so that they die. So we don’t recommend it! But at least our peas are happy.
Like Jules, I grow purple podded peas and they really get a lot of height. I use a wire trellis attached to a south facing wall (the back of my plot). That way they cover the wall with lovely full growth and plenty of delicately pink and purple flowers too. It’s nearly a shame to eat the young purple pods as they come – but only nearly – wink.
@mtp re: mice – get a cat
@rachael re: pigeons – get a big cat
Pea hedge is looking good. We put ours up this month. Used a very traditional method of taking the hazel tops off the pea stick and using the lower parts to support the hedge. Looks very pretty! Keep up the good work and good luck with your new advertising venture.