When to sow: Oct-Mar
Spacing: 20x20cm
Seed Sowing
Sweet peas can be sown from November until March under cover. Soak your seeds overnight in tepid water, sow four seeds in a 9cm pot, and keep them under cover to be planted out in Spring. You can also direct sow them into the ground in April or May, but they will need protection from slugs and snails.
Transplanting
Plant out your seedlings once the risk of frost has passed. It’s best to harden off young plants for 3-5 days to acclimatise; you can do this by covering them with fleece overnight once planted or by leaving the modules outside during the day. Make sure you have good supports, around 1.5-2 metres, for your sweet peas to clamber up. Plant them out at 25 x 25 cm spacing.
Plant Care
Sweet peas can be pinched out at around 10 cm to encourage bushy growth (although it’s not essential). Give them a little water during dry spells and help guide them back towards the supports you built. Other than that, keep picking the flowers, and they will keep coming.
Challenges
Sweet peas need protection against slugs and snails when young. Check regularly for aphids. Ensure there is enough airflow to reduce the risk of downy mildew.
Harvest
Sweet peas will start to flower in early summer and will continue throughout the season if you keep picking the blooms. The stems will get shorter as the plants age. Use secateurs, as the stems are fibrous and don’t snap off easily. Once the plant starts making seeds, it will stop producing as many flowers. If you want more blooms, remove all seed pods and deadhead regularly.
Culinary Ideas
Do not eat sweet peas; they are toxic. The seed pods look like tiny pea pods, so it would be easy to think they are edible, but they contain Aminopronprionitrile, which is toxic to consume.
Seed Saving
Select the best plants and do not harvest flowers or deadhead from them; slim pods will form and start to dry on the plant. If you leave the plant in situ, these pods will crack open in spirals and shed their seeds in situ. Collect the seeds once the pods are dry, brittle, and brown. Spread them out for a week in a cool, dry place and store them for up to 4 years.
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Asian Greens – Pak Choi (Organic)
£1.68 – £3.80 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageAsian Greens – Pak Choi (Organic)
An heirloom pak choi variety with juicy fat white stalks and dark green spoon shaped leaves. Also known as ‘Boo Toy’, ‘Horse’s Ear’, ‘Japanese Celery’, Pak Choi looks like a squat fat celery with dark green spoon shaped leaves. You can eat all of the plant above ground and it’s delicious with sesame oil, chilli and steamed rice. It grows well in cooler conditions and can be used as cut and come again or as a more mature plant later in the year. Any ideas as to why it’s called Horses Ear, we’d love to hear!
£1.68 – £3.80 -
Asian Greens – Mizuna – “Beni Houshi” (Organic)
£1.90 Add to basketAsian Greens – Mizuna – “Beni Houshi” (Organic)
A striking variety of mizuna with lime green leaves and purple stems. This beautiful new mizuna variety is apparently taking the Japanese foody-scene by storm! It’s similar in taste to green mizuna and is delicious raw in salads or cooked in stir-fries.
With its contrasting colour scheme it’s a real head-turner and is certain to impress.
(Approximate seed count – 180)
£1.90 -
Asian Greens – Purple Frills (Organic)
£1.88 – £3.80 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageAsian Greens – Purple Frills (Organic)
An abundant, colourful, delicate variety of mustard which gets punchier as the season continues. Purple Frills has beautiful burgundy tinged, spidery leaves. It adds interest to any salad with its hot mustardy flavour. It can also be cooked and used a spicy spinach alternative. It is abundant in its growth and will continue throughout the coldest weather.
(Approximate seed count – 250)£1.88 – £3.80 -
Asian Greens – Tatsoi (Organic)
£1.68 – £3.50 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageAsian Greens – Tatsoi (Organic)
A fast growing variety producing an abundance of flavoursome dark glossy round leaves. Tat Soi produces leaves with a mild mustard flavour and a crunchy texture that can be used raw as a delicious addition to a salad or cooked in a variety of ways. It is a fast growing variety that can be cut at any stage. If the baby leaves are left to mature they become a stunning rosette of broad round greens with a wide, crisp and juicy central stem.
(Approximate seed count – 300)£1.68 – £3.50 -
Asian Greens – Mizuna (Organic)
£1.68 Add to basketAsian Greens – Mizuna (Organic)
A variety of mustard greens. Mizuna is a vigorous grower, producing an abundance of stalks with green deeply serrated leaves. Mizuna has a mild piquant almost peppery taste and can be used raw in salads and also as a cooked green. It is highly resistant to the cold and can be grown throughout the winter, making those cold, short days and long nights feel healthier and a little bit spicier! The pretty yellow sprays of flowers can also be a bright addition to a salad with the same mustardy hit.
(Approximate seed count – 275)£1.68 -
Asian Greens – Giant Red Mustard (Organic)
£1.80 Read moreAsian Greens – Giant Red Mustard (Organic)
Purpleish-red and green mustard with large leaves and a fiery spice. The young leaves are of a succulent, delicate and peppery flavour. When harvested fully matured, the leaves might surprise you with their bold flavour. When cooked or steamed like other greens however the taste will be mild and similar to spinach or chard. Giant Red Mustard seeds are also excellent for sprouting.
(Approximate seed count – 330)£1.80 -
Asian Greens – Kizuna Mix (Organic)
£1.85 Add to basketAsian Greens – Kizuna Mix (Organic)
We are really excited about this one!
This is a diverse breeding population derived from a cross between Dazzling Blue Kale and Beni Houshi Mizuna. We found the first individual of this cross between where the two parents had been flowering. These seeds are from the F2 generation which means the second generation after the original cross happened. There is a beautifully diverse mix of quite round leaves, and very feathery and frilly leaves and everything in between.
The texture is somewhere in between Red Russian kale and Pak Choy so the leaves have a bit of body to them but are also very soft and are delicious both raw and cooked like spinach.
(Approximate seed count = 200)
£1.85
