Peas - What happens now?

aliasojo

Next in my series of daft questions .......once I've picked all the pea pods off the plants, what happens to the plants? Are they one season only things? They look quite tatty now.

rhiwfield

One season only! Foliage on mine, if still green, was fed to the chooks

irishwexford

I was told to leave roots in ground as it provides some sort of feed to soil. I will cut mine down to ground and compost the green stuff.

aliasojo

Thanks very much.

Mine were in a builders bucket thing so will put the green bits in the composter and mix the earth into the raised bed.

Primrose

They only last for one season. I've chopped mine up and dug them back into soil where they were growing rather than putting them on the compost heap. They'll rot down very quickly with current warm soil temperatures and help keep the soil fertilised.. I've sown some dwarf beans in that location and a few of them are already shooting through the surface.

Don't forget you can make delicious Peapod soup with the pea shells. Chop them roughly, simmer until soft in a little melted butter and a little chopped onion. . Add some chicken stock (use a stock cube if necessary). Whizz with a stick blender and strain though a wire sieve. Serve in chilled in wine glasses as an unusual summer starter.

aliasojo

What a good idea, thank you.

Wookey

Lots of nitrogen to be added back into the soil by pulling the pea plant up and digging it back in as a green manure.

Rosebud24

Does this mean the pea season is over now? I only had three pods from two plants... and one of them only had one pea in it!

lolly5648

Primrose wrote: »

They only last for one season. I've chopped mine up and dug them back into soil where they were growing rather than putting them on the compost heap. They'll rot down very quickly with current warm soil temperatures and help keep the soil fertilised.. I've sown some dwarf beans in that location and a few of them are already shooting through the surface.

Do you mean you just pull them up then cut them up very small and just dig them back into the same earth and not mix them with anything?

I assume you then have to grow a different plant in that place next year?

LJM

mine are in the composter

eandjsmum

all pea and bean plants have nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots so can be used to add nitrogen to the soil