Growing Peas for the First Time

This year has been a poor year for vegetable growing. The prolonged cold wet weather resulted in a very poor salad potato crop and the runner beans and dwarf beans have struggled to grow. Even the tomatoes in the greenhouse have been slow to grow and set fruit. Thankfully the weather has now warmed up, the sun has finally put in an appearance and the vegetable plants are growing strongly.
The one crop which has been a success despite the cold wet weather is the pea crop. This is the first time I have tried my hand at growing peas and I am pleased with the results. I planted 'Early Onward', a second early variety, in two rows about eighteen inches apart. The seeds were sown in v-shaped drills about 2-3 inches deep.
There were a lot of hard prunings from trees and shrubs at the bottom of the garden and some of these branches were used to support the peas. The branches were pushed into the soil at an angle creating a pleasing rustic effect, much nicer (and cheaper) than using the usual bamboo canes.
The pea seeds were sown directly into the ground in May. Usually second early varieties would be sown in April but due to the unusually cold weather it was mid May before they went into the ground. However, the pods are starting to fill out nicely now and I expect to be harvesting a decent crop over the next few weeks.