I love growing and eating peas, but it's the hours of shucking that usually sends me to the store to buy frozen peas. Has anyone used a pea shucking device that really works?
pea shucker?
My advice- grow Sugar Snap or other edible podded peas- they are scrumptious, and no waste!
HelenVT - I shuck peas while watching TV. If you're afraid of missing something, only shuck during the commercials. My little dog, Chloe, loves peas. I'll toss her a few peas and/or pods and she's happy.
Sugar snaps are delicious, but I really love fresh peas.
Most of pea shellers that work well are expensive. I have not encountered a home pea sheller that works any better than the wringer on an old Maytag washing machine. A good pea sheller will shell bushels per hour, but unless you are growing peas by the acre, not worth it. Used mostly for southern peas around here. http://www.peasandcornco.com/pea_sheller.asp?gclid=CJKT4JTI-6YCFUHt7Qodjmwzsw http://www.ehow.com/way_5242982_homemade-pea-sheller.html http://www.homesteadharvest.com/peasheller.html
Helen, I've spent years doing as Honeybee, shelling in front of the tv, sometimes with a helper, sometimes not. However last year I broke down and bought the "Amazing Electric Pea Sheller" that Farmerdill linked to in one of the links above. It works fantastic. I was impressed. As for me, I justified the price ($239) cus I sell produce at the mkt and felt like it would pay for itself. However, I ended up putting SO Many(!) peas in the freezer I sold very little; I wanted to have peas, field peas, and butter beans to live on all winter. I sure made my goal, too!
Shoe
Horseshoe, I wish we were neighbors. We could work out some kind of exchange. Sadly, NC is nowhere near VT. Well at least both of us are on the east coast. I've seen that machine that you have, but the price gave me sticker shock.
Yeh, I hear ya on the sticker shock. I put off buying one for years. (Hmm...wonder how many store-bought peas you could buy for the price of that machine, eh?)
There were suggestions for making one at one of the links Farmerdill gave, maybe ya'll could go that route.
I think I got a replacement parts list w/mine...if ya'll made your own box (plywood) and could scrounge up an electric motor locally, I bet you could order the rollers/gears only and make one.
Shoe
Pea planting season is getting sooooo close here! I can barely wait! I don't grow enough peas to worry about having a pea shucker - mostly I shuck and eat them as I'm puttering about in the garden. Very few actually get to the house. The chicken run is adjacent to the garden, so I toss the shells over the fence and they enjoy them immensely. I grow sugar peas (edible pod), also, and they ARE scrumptious - but they aren't the same as young, small, sweet, shelling peas. You all are making me think that I should plant LOTS of peas this year and fill up my freezer...
Kmom, I was (and am) the same as you, eating quite a few right in the garden. I even have friends come by to just sit in the pea patch on five gallon buckets, shooting the breeze and eatin' peas. A nice yearly experience, eh? I like to broadcast pea seeds like some folks sow grass, throw them out in a block, cover or till them in, and walk away. If you grow a low-growing variety they grow so close together they hold each other up, no need for sticks or strings. Go for it, ain't nuttin' better for ya!
Shoe
What kind of peas do you grow horseshoe? The peas I've grown always flop over even though they're supposed to be short. Sounds that you've found something better. I live in an alkaline area now. Where I used to live my peas were way more productive. Do you think it's a ph problem or am I missing a certain nutrient?
Horseshoe I have another question for you. Does your pea sheller also shuck shell beans and lima beans?
I set up one bed with hoop loops today and made a tunnel covered with a row cover. Looks like the weather is going to be nice for the next few days, so will sow some pea seeds tomorrow.
My what a nice day out there today! Will be sore tomorrow I bet!
For years I've grown Laxton's Progress #9. (Heck, that variety name is even fun to say, eh!?) The grow about 18" to 2 ft, sometimes a little more.
This year I bought another lower-growing variety that was on sale (Big Time sale at Johnny's Seeds this year, ya'll should check it out). This variety is called "Strike" and will be my first year growing it so I can't critique it yet. I also just now realized it is a PVP, plant variety protected, which may mean it is a hybrid (although it doesn't carry the F1 symbol behind its name). Oh well...
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7317-strike.aspx
As for your soil, yes, peas prefer a more acid soil than your alkaline one, preferably 6.0 to 7.0.
Attached is pic of a pea patch with close spacing.
Shoe
"Does your pea sheller also shuck shell beans and lima beans?"
Yes! I shelled field peas (cowpeas/blackeye peas, whatever they are called in your area) and also some butter beans. Some of the butter beans got a bit squished but that might've been my fault cus some were picked before they really filled out (a bit soft at that stage). All in all, I was very impressed with how it shelled them.
Honeybee, this weather is doing us justice, ain't it!? Don't forget to take pics, both for here and your new webpage.
Shoe
NOT a hybrid shoe. It is an open pollinated variety as are all peas. A few years ago Plant Variety Protection was made available to breeders so that they would have an opportunity to recoup their development cost. Like a patent it expires over time. Hybrids are protected by keeping their lineage secret, but an OP without protection can be copied by everybody and thier half brother. You can save your own seed, but you cannot grow and sell seed without paying a royalty to the developer.
I'm SO happy to hear that, F-dill! Thanks!
And when I ordered the seed I didn't notice the PVP symbol there; think they added it later or I wouldn't have bought it. I love saving seeds.
You're the best! I hope these turn out to be a good variety. Heck I grow so many peas I may as well save some for seed next year. And great to know that "It is an open pollinated variety as are all peas". That sure levels the playing field regarding whether to save pea seeds or not. I'm good to go!
What kind of pea in your pic? Have you grown "Strike" by any chance? Any input?
Thanks a million.
Shoe
It is Strike. That is the vine. here are the peas. Good producer, better flavor than Progress #9
Wow, I'm gonna be one excited pea picker this year.
Thanks, those look beautiful. (And yep, I'll add pics to PF this year.)
Much obliged.
Shoe
Wow! You guys are just making my drool with all these photos! But tell me one thing- You are posting like crazy- how in the world do you get all that farming done ? I am loving all these exciting posts about spring gardening, even though I am way up north! We'll have spring soon- ,but meanwhile I'll read all this wonderful info! Thanks- you are a great group------
JoParrot, as for me, it is not full blown wide-open season here yet so I get to go out and work a while, come back in to the "shoffice" (where the computer and all my records are kept), take a short cool-off, or warm-up time, check DG, add to my files/spreadsheets, etc, then head back out again. Once I get entirely too busy for my own good (as people tell me) I will be posting less and less. If you don't see me here please feel sorry for me...it means I'm being overworked and underpaid. *grin
Hang in there, your spring will come!
Shoe
Thanks, Shoe- I just love all my dg buddies- you have made winter with all the dreary skies and winds pass by pretty fast.