Pea Seed Recipients & Updates

[TheSeedObsesser]

Here is my list of who requested pea seed from me earlier this year, please let me know if I am missing anybody or happened to make a mistake.

@annageckos
@ninnymary
@Carol Dee
@baymule

...I think that's everybody? If anybody else wants seed and is willing to take a risk (see below) I'm willing to send it.

As for updates on the peas, I've got some good news... and some bad news.

(This paragraph is the bad news, if you want to read the good news first, please skip this paragraph and read the next ) Might as well get the bad news over with, right? I did not manage to get much (if any) good seed from a few varieties. The humidity that we've been having here has prevented many peas from drying down well, most of my seed from the shelling and snap varieties molded in their pods before I could get to them. I also had some sort of late blight come through here and infect the majority of my pea plants. I will list my different pea varieties and their statuses down below (Infected vs noninfected. Grow pea varieties that were infected and you are running the risk of introducing my disease into your garden. I do have some varieties that weren't or were minimally infected by it.)

Now for the good news. I have collected a lot of seed from most varieties (particularly from the big breeding mix-match). And... is that really all of the good news that I can think of? Oh yeah, there are some plants still growing from the varieties that I couldn't collect decent seed from - so you can decide to take the mediocre and possibly infected seed, or wait while I see if I can get some good seed.

Now for my list of pea varieties.

Breeding Mix - I couldn't separate different types this year due to the plants doing a little too well and me getting distracted by other things. I did manage to separate the snap peas from the other types. Pod colors can be yellow, purple, green, red, or any combo in between (same goes for snaps). Snap pea pods are a little on the small side. I have the most seed of the regular mix (not including snaps). I have seen a lot of unusual color combos come from these peas. Some peas were effected by the late disease while others showed good resistance to it.

Sugar Magnolia - infected by disease. I did not manage to get very much good seed due to wet weather.

Golden Sweet - some plants were infected with disease while others were not. I did have trouble getting great seed from these but they are in much better shape than the Sugar Magnolia.

Golden Sweet (Marshall's Black strain) - plants were hit badly by the disease. Seeds are in great shape. Very pretty and a heavy producer.

Mammoth Melting - were infected but these plants with make it through anything. Not as much seed of these. Standard variety and easy to find at department store seed racks.

 

[Carol Dee]

@TheSeedObsesser We only got one picking fro our peas this year. Not sure what went wrong. 2nd planting was swallowed in weeds! Looking at the garden and what DH plans to plant next year I probably will not have room for any more peas and beans. No need to send my anything. More for those still wanting seed. Thanks for the offer.

 

[baymule]

As Tennessee Ernie Ford used to say, "Bless yore lil' ol' pea pickin' heart...."
I think gardens all over the country were hit with weird weather, cold, rain, humidity and blight. Last year, my English peas were great, got 4 pickings and lots of seed. This spring was a washout, barely got one picking and didn't even worry about seed. I still have some left from last year, so I'll try with those next spring.

My tomatoes and eggplant were hit with all of the above and crapped out on me. Squash was a total bust and have some plants blooming now if they can make it past the borers, squash bugs, heat, humidity and more heat.

I understand where you're coming from, I think most, if not all of us do. Let's try again next year. Get your garden in order and don't worry about us. We all love you anyway, peas or no peas. We'll all still be here, encouraging and supporting each other.

 

[ninnymary]

Seedo, I agree with baymule. Let's try again next year. But do keep me in mind. I love any colorful veggie and those peas were so pretty. I love to grow them for my preschoolers. Yep, we still love you peas or no peas!

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Do you know what type of problems your pea plants had? My meager research seems to indicate that most of the disease problems are with the plant and the soil. Only the Mosaic Virus is known to transfer into the seed, from what I've read.

I would be willing to plant a few of your most needy varieties (up to five) yet this fall to see how they do. This would be in areas away from my veggie garden proper, so there would be little risk of damage to my garden soil.