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Batchelor Marrowfat Peas
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Sidpickle (U14495445) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
In the supermarkets you can buy dried Batchelor Marrowfat peas - 31/32p for 250 grammes. If soaked and cooked these can be used to make mushy peas, or if planted (without cooking!) they seem to germinate quite well. Obviously the shoots can be cropped and eaten but I have never let them get to maturity to see what peas if any result. Has anyone out there tried this and if so what happened?
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Message 2
Posted by kate1123 (U14824475) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
I also read that you could do this but when I tried I failed miserably. I did not soak them , just planted them so that may have been my mistake.
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Message 3
Posted by Jasmin (U14270220) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
Oh yes - they work really well.
I don't soak them, I just plant them, a couple of inches apart, pushing them into the soil with my finger & covering over. I grow them in fairly shallow wooden boxes - the sort fruit comes in from proper fruit markets (just because that's what I have) - for a crop of the leaves for salads or in the ground / deeper pots to grow up trellises / obelixes for proper pea plants. Really good. No need to buy expensive ones marketed for growing pea plants. -
Message 4
Posted by farmerSteve (U2644680) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
Dried peas are produced from a combined crop of ripened peas
There is a risk that they have been through a high temperature crop drier if they were harvested damp
This would kill the germination potential
if you want to plant some and dont want crop failure put ten seeds on a wet cloth on a saucer cover with cling film and leave fro a few days in the airing cupboard
if less than eight sprout I would not risk planting them
but often peas failing to germinate come from other problems
First is that mice are very good at digging them up! -
Message 5
Posted by Sidpickle (U14495445) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
but often peas failing to germinate come from other problems
First is that mice are very good at digging them up!Â
Dip them in paraffin I read somewhere to stop mice doing this. Not sure if it works.
Reference the high temperature issue with Batchelor Bigga dried peas. My success rate is about 70% after soaking in water overnight. -
Message 6
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Thursday, 27th October 2011
Yes, I did it this year with a packet of Leo's dried peas from Tesco. Very good germination. They grew to about six foot tall. I may have left them a week too long before I picked them, they had started to shed. I blanched them and I have put them in the freezer in two portion quantities.
We had some with faggots and gravy and onions and they were delicious.
But in the final analysis it may be easier to buy a pack as and when and put in another row of fresh peas or something else. But I'm glad I grew them just to see. -
Message 7
Posted by collperson (U13806187) on Friday, 28th October 2011
I too have used commercial marrow fat peas for two years. They produce lovely peas BUT germination in boxes is poor, The second year it was even poorer! I grew them originally for the sprouts which were great.
I would suggest you buy the peas, put some in a box for sprouts and another lot to plant out - and if germination is poor you are still saving pots of money.
By the way I tried dried flagiolet beans in the same way. Was it because I bought an out of date packet - just wondered!- but germination was rubbish and they hated the cold Scottish summer. -
Message 8
Posted by Jasmin (U14270220) on Friday, 28th October 2011
Hi collperson,
You can do beans in the same way, but you have to give them a bit more tlc. You need, first of all, to soak them as if you were soaking them to cook. Then drain them off & put them on a warm windowsill in the sun, on a tray lined with wet kitchen paper in a single layer for a few days. They will begin to sprout, at which point sow them in toilet roll insides / small pots filled with potting compost, shoot up, keeping them on said windowsill or a warm, light shed, until they're a couple of inches high or so. Then you can harden them off & plant out in the usual way.
This works for all whole dried beans - I haven't tried it on split beans / lentils. -
Message 9
Posted by supernanauna (U5159866) on Friday, 28th October 2011
I've done this in the past with marrowfat peas. I just soaked them in cold water overnight, then planted out and ended up with enormous quantities of peas in the summer.
And I cooked the rest - superbargain!!! -
Message 10
Posted by kate1123 (U14824475) on Friday, 28th October 2011
I have some dried lentils in the cupboard, I will give this a try.
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Message 11
Posted by bookertoo (U3655866) on Saturday, 29th October 2011
Ah, now lentils are quite a different sory I am afraid. We rarely if ever get enough bright light and the strong heat for long enough to ripen lentils. They are a pulse and you might expect them to bejave as peas and beans but no, this one is less likelyto work for you.
Having said all that, there was recently an article in one of the national newspapers suggesting that lentils were going to be the next big thing for farmers, and that good crops had been grown in a variety of areas, so maybe I should just be quiet and wish you all the best!! If you are sucessful, and apparenty the good crops were in the south and west (as ever), please let us know and send some pictures?
Has anyone seen any lentil seeds offered for sale - ther than the ones sold for eating? -
Message 12
Posted by honeysuckle (U8412568) on Saturday, 29th October 2011
I sowed some in a hoe-drawn trench , without soaking, just to cover some spare ground. They germinated well and I have been picking the sprout and baby pods for salads, etc. Have not yet let any mature.
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Message 13
Posted by 7magpies (U8108459) on Tuesday, 1st November 2011
I have grown these to use as pea sprouts/shoots, planting them really thickly. They are so cheap that even if some don't germinate, they're still good value. I tried soaking some overnight and it didn't seem to give them any advantage over unsoaked seeds. I grew several batches of them this year, from about half a box of seeds (and the seeds were three boxes for 99p!).
I did allow a few to mature - well, I suppose I forgot about them until that was the only option - and shelled and ate them. I think we just put them in a soup or something, so I don't know how they'd compare with seed sown for pea crops.
Give them a try - if you've got the space, you haven't got much to lose! -
Message 14
Posted by collperson (U13806187) on Thursday, 3rd November 2011
Thank you very much for that advice. Very useful to know how it works for others.
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Message 15
Posted by kate1123 (U14824475) on Friday, 9th December 2011
I tried the lentils, they happily grew to 4 inches and then they collapsed.
I have moved on to the marrowfat peas, I had an 80% germination rate and I now have a healthy crop of pea shoots on my window sill.
I did also try micro greens, these were grew fine but the crop was not worth the space it took up. -
Message 16
Posted by Sidpickle (U14495445) on Friday, 9th December 2011
Good fun. Reminds me of school and the seeds on wet blotting paper
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