As easy as peas, because they are peas! Pick before the peas swell and eat raw in salads, or steam lightly.
Pea Plants – Oregon Sugar Pod (Mangetout) £9.99
A delicious ‘Mangetout’ Sugar Pea with long, fleshy, slightly curved pods. Gather while young and cook them whole! Height 105-120cm (31/2-4′). Pack of 10 plants + 5 FREE!Easy to grow and now better value than ever! Why not give them a try? You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Pea Sugar Snap Delikett Seeds £2.99
With a very sweet flavour, this round podded mangetout type pea will add a delicious flavour to your dinner plate. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Height 75cm (30).
Pea Mangetout Seeds – Sweet Horizon £2.65
This true mange tout pea has a strong growth habit and produces a good crop of sweet and tasty eat all medium/dark green pods. Delicious stir-fried or steamed. Resistant to powdery mildew.
Growing peas is easy. In tubs or in the ground. Just follow the instructions on any of these great offers from Suttons. Seeds and plants available.
Pea and Bean Plant Collection £14.99
Peas and beans are two of the most productive crops you can grow in terms of harvest per square metre! Our collection comprises 25 Plants (15 Garden Ready Pea Ambassador – Use fresh or frozen, this ‘Onward’ type pea is high in vitamin C and tastes delicious! It’s vigorous, with a high level of disease resistance and 10 Pot Ready Runner Bean St George – In recent RHS trials, British-bred St George emerged as the highest-yielding runner bean. Semi-stringless and good flavoured, its attractive bicoloured flowers are an added bonus! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. – Ideal for a veg patch approx. 2msquared.
Pea Plants – Cascadia (Sugar Snap) £9.99
An eat all pea which produces a cascade of 8cm pods with an average content of 7/8 peas to a pod. Pods hold well on the plants, giving a long harvest period. Ideal raw in salads, as a stir fry or used in conventional cooking. Height 75cm (30). Pack contains 10 plants + 5 extra FREE! You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Pea Purple Podded Plants £9.99
Pick pods young and tender and eat them whole to make the most of the purple colour and the extra vitamins that the pods contain. Allow them to mature and you’ll find that the green peas inside are very tasty too! Height 1.8m (6′).
Pea Plants – Peawee 65 (Petit Pois) £9.99
Producing 2-3 pods per node and 9-10 peas per pod, this outstanding pea will provide you with a bountiful crop of mouth-watering petit pois. Height 75cm (30). Buy 10 plants GET 5 FREE.Easy to grow and now better value than ever! Why not give them a try? You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Pea and Bean Patio Planter £9.95
Enjoy fresh peas and beans straight from the patio! Our easy-to-use planter is made from tough black woven polyethylene, has drainage holes and carry handles, and comes complete with a robust frame for the plants to climb up. Overall size 182cm (6′) high x 45cm (18) wide x 35cm (14) deep. ONLY 1 LEFT
Pea Tom Thumb Seed £3.65
Not the first vegetable that springs to mind when thinking of patio growing, but this superb dwarf variety is ideal, producing a good crop of sweet and tasty peas. It requires no staking and shows good frost hardiness. It makes a great addition to a child’s container garden too. Patio variety.
Pea Onward Seeds £2.65
Very widely grown in all areas. Heavy crop of blunt-ended pods in pairs containing plump peas. Excellent for table and freezing and outstanding for exhibition. Resistant to Fusarium Wilt. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Height 60cm (2′). Second-Early/Maincrop Variety.
Pea Peawee 65 Seeds £2.65
Producing 2-3 pods per node and 9-10 peas per pod, this outstanding pea will provide you with a bountiful crop of mouth-watering petit pois. Resistant to powdery mildew and fusarium wilt strain. Height 75cm (30).
Pea Hurst Greenshaft Seeds £2.65
Medium green pointed pods in pairs, each containing 9-11 peas. Resistant to downy mildew and Fusarium Wilt; recommended for exhibition. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Recommended by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany. Second-Early/Maincrop Variety. Height 75cm (30). Note:Pea Greensage is not available this year so if you normally grow this variety we recommend Greemshaft as the most suitable alternative.
Pea Avola Seeds £2.65
An outstanding pea, with excellent colour and flavour, producing up to 8 peas to each pod. Moderate tolerance to Downy Mildew. Height 60cm (2′). Recommended for freezing. Early Variety.
Pea Elvas Seed £2.55
An exceptional variety producing, on average, three pods to a node, each pod packed with 7-10 delicious, sweet-tasting peas. W = Wrinkled seed. Can be sown in succession from March to June. Suitable for deep freezing.
Bean (Runner) Lady Di Seeds £2.85
A first-rate, stringless runner bean, producing an abundant crop of 25-30cm (10-12) long beans over a long period. Very good flavour and popular with local allotment holders who have trialled it. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Bean (Runner) Enorma Seeds £2.85
Short-jointed plants producing an enormous crop of very long, smooth, slender beans of excellent shape and colour. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner. Recommended by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.
Bean (Runner) Moonlight Seeds £2.99
Recently many people have had problems setting beans due to poor weather and a lack of bees. Moonlight produces masses of flowers that self-pollinate well, ensuring good set even in poor weather, and a bumper crop of delicious, smooth, stringless pods!
Bean Runner Seeds – Benchmaster £2.99
Tried and tested for the UK climate, producing pods of over 40cm (16) in length! It boasts an excellent flavour and a long harvest period. Not only a great culinary variety but also ideal for the exhibition bench. A top quality, red-flowered, British-bred bean.
Bean (Runner) St George Seeds £2.99
In recent RHS trials, St George emerged as the highest-yielding runner bean. Semi-stringless and good flavoured, its attractive bicoloured red-and-white flowers are an added bonus! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Bean (Climbing French) Limka Seeds £3.55
Delicious long straight, flat pods make Limka ideal for slicing like a runner bean – but you can pick it much earlier. It shows good Mosaic Virus resistance and, if you lack space, can even be grown indoors! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Bean (Runner) Painted Lady Seeds £3.65
Produces a heavy crop of medium length pods over a long season if picked regularly. The perfect choice for the flower garden where it complements climbing plants such as sweet peas.
Bean (Runner) Hestia Seeds £3.65
A first class, very disease resistant and easy to grow dwarf variety, bearing heavy crops of stringless, high quality and delicious beans. With its attractive bicolour red and white flowers, it also makes an appealing addition to the flower garden. Ideal for exposed gardens or patio containers. Height approximately 45cm (18).
Bean (Runner) Celebration Seeds £3.65
Not only does this delicious English bred variety give you good, very early pickings of smooth, 28-30cm (11-12) long pods, it also boasts good rust resistance. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Bean Runner Seeds – Hestia £3.65
High quality, tasty beans. Attractive, bicoloured flowers. For containers or border.
Bean (Runner) Polestar Seeds £3.65
Bred in Britain. Completely stringless with smooth, fleshy pods. Early, and crops heavily.
Bean (Runner) Armstrong Seeds £3.65
Considered by many to be the best flavoured runner ever, this stringless Enorma-type runner bean is high yielding and early cropping.
Bean (Runner) Butler Seeds £3.65
Strong growing plants which crop over a long period. Medium length, very fleshy pods which are quite stringless. Recommended by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany.
Bean (Runner) White Apollo Seeds £4.99
Superb quality, excellently flavoured, good straight beans up to 32cm (13) long. Very prolific fruit setting and heavy cropping. RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Want to grow runner beans? There’s a complete kit to get you started even if you only have a patio! Enjoy freshly picked runner beans this summer!
Runner Bean Patio Kit £24.99
This handy kit is the easy way to grow runner beans on your doorstep with 12 healthy plants of runner bean Moonlight, plus 2 specially designed Runner Bean Patio Planters.With their integral cane pockets the simple planters allow you to build a sturdy support for climbing beans. They’re made from tough polyethylene, in a fashionable ‘dusky blue’, with drainage holes and carry handles. 45cm (18) diameter x 25cm (10) high. Canes not included.This unique Runner/French cross produces sets well even in poor conditions, so you can look forward to a bumper crop of tasty, stringless pods!
Runner Bean Hestia Patio Growing Kit £14.99
For patio growing, available as a pack of 3 healthy plants together with a set of 3 Patio Planter Bags (tough, re-useable, green woven polyethylene bags with holes for drainage and handles for easy moving, measuring 45cm (18) high x 35cm (14) in diameter).Dwarf Runner Bean Hestia – Heavy crops of high quality and delicious stringless beans. Attractive bicolour flowers too! Height 45cm (18).
Runner Bean Plants – St George £9.99
In recent RHS trials, British-bred St George emerged as the highest-yielding variety. Semi-stringless and good flavoured, its attractive bicoloured flowers are an added bonus! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Runner Bean Plants – Moonlight £9.99
This outstanding runner bean produces masses of flowers with excellent self-pollination characteristics, setting well even in poor conditions. So you can look forward to a bumper crop of tasty, smooth, stringless pods! A unique Runner/French cross, bred for improved pollination!
Bean – Dwarf Runner Bean Hestia Plants £9.99
Heavy crops of high quality and delicious stringless beans. Attractive bicolour flowers too! Height approximately 45cm (18).You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Bean – Dwarf Runner Bean Hestia Plants £6.99
Heavy crops of high quality and delicious stringless beans. Attractive bicolour flowers too! Height 45cm (18). SAVE £3.99 on pack of 10 plants!You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Runner Bean Plants – St George £6.99
In recent RHS trials, British-bred St George emerged as the highest-yielding variety. Semi-stringless and good flavoured, its attractive bicoloured flowers are an added bonus! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Leek Neptune Seeds £1.49
An impressive leek producing flavoursome white stems that are ready to harvest from November to January. Shows good winter hardiness and resistance to rust.
Leek Lyon – Prizetaker Seeds £1.49
Recommended. Long, thick, pure white stems of mild flavour. Excellent for exhibition if sown in January under glass.
Leek F1 Sprinton Seed £1.85
This top quality hybrid produces good crops of delicious leeks with very long, pale green shanks. Shows good resistance to rust.
Leek Swiss Giant Zermatt Seeds £1.85
A dual-purpose leek, for baby or full-size harvest. Pulled young it makes a good milder alternative to spring onions. Salad type.
Leek Seeds – Atal £2.45
Mild variety. Easy to grow. For salads, steaming or stir fry. Baby type.
Leek Autumn Giant 3 Albana Seeds £2.85
A top quality leek for a long season of production, giving high yields of flavoursome, medium-sized stems averaging 20-23cm (8-9) in length with little or no bulbing. It also stands extreme weather conditions remarkably well.
Leek Musselburgh Seed Tape £2.85
Musselburgh is a tasty white leek that’s delicious in soups or stews, as a boiled vegetable or in stir fries. Very hardy, good length – and very tasty! (250 seeds) Do you have trouble handling small seed and getting an even distribution? Sometimes it’s not easy when the seed is the same colour as the soil! When the seedlings emerge, do you find thinning them out a real chore?If the answer is yes – then Suttons Groweasy Seed Tapes are just the thing for you.Pre-spaced seed in a tape – less thinning out! 5m (161/2′) of bio-degradable tape per pack.Simply prepare your soil, draw out a groove, roll out your tape, cover with soil, water well and watch your seedlings grow!
Leek F1 Striker Seeds £2.85
A high quality, heavy cropping leek. The full-flavoured leeks boast long shanks and stand well in the garden without running to seed.
Leek F1 Carlton Seeds £2.99
Of exceptional taste, vigour and quality, producing early crops with little waste and no bulbing, that require minimal cleaning. Germination is high and rapid and yields are large. The stems themselves are long, straight, smooth and delicious! RHS Award of Garden Merit winner.
Leek 6 Months Twin Pack Plants £9.99
Early and late cropping leeks to give tasty crops from September to February. SAVE £1.99 on Twin Pack comprising 92 plants (46 of each variety):Leek Musselburgh (picture 1) – Very popular winter hardy variety. Good length, tasty white stems that are delicious in soups or stews, as a boiled vegetable or in stir fries. Winter maturing.Leek Albana (picture 2) – A top quality variety for a long season of production, giving high yields of flavoursome, medium-sized stems averaging 20-23cm (8-9) in length with little or no bulbing. Good tolerance to extreme weather. Autumn maturing.
Leek Twin Pack – Albana and Musselburgh £7.99
If you’re looking for a delicious, seasonal and nutritious food to see you through the winter months, something that can be roasted, baked or braised and has a sweet taste and a smooth texture – then the leek is for you and we have it available as a twin pack at a bargain price of £7.99 saving you £2.00. We have selected an early and a late variety to give you continuity of crop. Twin Pack contains 80 plants (40 of each variety):Albana (autumn maturing) – A top quality leek for a long season of production, giving high yields of flavoursome, medium-sized stems. Good tolerance to extreme weather.Musselburgh (winter maturing) – Good length, tasty white stems that are delicious in soups or stews, as a boiled vegetable or in stir-fries.Please Note: Leek varieties subject to availability, a replacement may be included.
Leek Plants – F1 Megaton £6.99
An early hybrid which stands in excellent condition for several weeks with no risk of ‘bolting’. Dark green leaves, a good length of white shank and a fine flavour make this one of the best all round early leeks. You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Leek Plants – Continuity Winter Duo Pack £6.99
Winter Duo Pack (January-March) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety). Poulton F1 (a short-shafted variety which produces high quality leeks with high density and attractive dark colour) and Vitaton F1 (an ideal partner to Poulton, allowing a supply of leeks well into the late winter).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market. You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Leek Plants – Continuity Autumn Duo Pack £6.99
Autumn Duo Pack (September-October) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety): Duration F1 (a quick-yielding late summer/early autumn variety) and Megaton F1 (a high-yielding hybrid that combines earliness with a long harvesting window thanks to its low risk of bolting).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market. You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Leek Plants – Continuity Early Winter Duo Pack £6.99
Early Winter Duo Pack (November-December) – Comprises of 46 plants (23 of each variety): Belton F1 (a long-shafted variety which produces uniform and easy-to-clean stems that hold well) and Poulton F1 (a short-shafted variety which produces high quality leeks with high density and attractive dark colour).When it comes to continuity of production we feel the following selection is an important step forward for the home market. You don’t have to have a large vegetable garden to grow your own. Even the smallest patio or balcony can accommodate a few containers that will give you a bumper crop of delicious fresh produce!
Leek Albana Plants £5.99
A top quality leek for a long season of production, giving high yields of flavoursome, medium-sized stems averaging 20-23cm (8-9) in length with little or no bulbing. Good tolerance to extreme weather. Autumn maturing. Healthy young plants, individually rooted in small plugs of compost.
Greenhouses are often given away – but they might be missing a few parts. Greenhouse glazing clips, greenhouse parts, greenhouse clips, greenhouse bolts, greenhouse door wheels and more might all be missing. These are easily available.
Additions to your greenhouse can include greenhouse rainwater kit, auto-opening vents and more! Also find Spare Wicks for heaters.
Spring wire glazing clips W clips
Designed to hold glass in to the frame of aluminium greenhouses.
Aluminium lap clips
‘Z’ clips because of their shape. Use them slotted on to the top of a pane of glass to support the upper piece of glass on the sidewalls of greenhouses.
Aluminium cropped head bolts and nuts
Aluminium bolts with a cropped head to slot into the vertical glazing bars of aluminium greenhouses to fix shelves, staging, etc to the greenhouse frame.
Aluminium square head bolts and nuts
Aluminium bolts and nuts useful in the construction and repair of aluminium greenhouse frames.
Also used for the construction of shelving and staging.
Aluminium lap strips
These flat aluminium strips designed to be bent in to shape for glazing repairs and are most useful for odd pane thicknesses and wooden greenhouses.
Greenhouse sliding door wheel kits mean you can sort out your dodgy greenhouse door.
You can re-drill the Aluminium frame to re-position the door to still run at the same height if it’s not quite right.
Insulation and shading fixers
These multi-purpose fixings are designed to slot into the greenhouse frame to fix on plastic bubble insulation or sun shading material in summer. Easier to use than painting the glass for shade.
They are complete with a hole that be used for tying up, straining wires, etc.
Very useful!
What happens when you run out of people on your waiting list.
One of two things could have happened:
Your local authority has ploughed up 30 acres of land every year for the last year and everyone who might ever want an allotment has not got one.
OR
The bad weather in 2012 has put people off the idea of being outside with a spade.
You need to work on your waiting list to build it up so that you always have someone on the list ready to take over a plot.
Some people get off put when they see the state of the plots they are offered.
What can an allotment group do to help? They could strim, clear and get the plot ready for planting. But if someone is unwilling or unable to do this clearing work themselves then they might not be suitable for an allotment.
Some sites might offer to help newbies get started.
Some people don’t like the cold weather, the wind, the rain, the snow, actually they don’t like being outdoors yet. They’ve just not realised. This sort of person lurks on the waiting list confident that they will be too old and infirm by the time they get offered an allotment.
If you have people who don’t want to take on a full plot then divide up a plot. Getting several people on to a plot is one way of dealing with the issue of the hard work. You might find people drop off after doing a bit, but that others might be keen to take on more plot!
Some people will be so eager they’ll come down to the site at every opportunity and ask to look at vacant plots. Whilst some on the committee will think these are a nuisance, I don’t! I think this level of enthusiasm is what is needed and is essential if they’re to tackle a bad allotment plot.
Increasing the waiting list
Advertise on your local supermarket notice board. This worked for our site. It is free to advertise too, you just write out a little card and it goes on the board for a week. Keep adding the card until you’ve got some people on the list.
Ask the local press or radio station if they’d like to do a story about empty plots and no one on the waiting list.
Ask at other local allotments for people on their waiting list. Share lists. If they have lots then it might be just because it’s a better known allotment site.
Ask the council to make sure they add your site to their lists so that when people enquire with them they’ll know.
Do a leaflet drop on the streets near your allotment. This can be a great way to ask for old paving slabs and water barrels too – combine it with a reminder about who they have to see to go on the waiting list.
Speak to your local councillors to see if they know anyone interested. They can add their contacts to advertise your site too!
Use facebook to find new people interested in allotmenting.
You could consider asking local guide or scout groups if they’d like to have a plot – but bear in mind extra children on site will cause upset amongst those who like peace and quiet, and may cause problems if they are not supervised properly. It will also impact on your own site’s liability insurance so check with them first about the financial impact.
Allotment wars looks at some of the issues that cause havoc
BBC Description of program:
Dishing the dirt on the battles being fought on plots across the UK. Filmed over seven months, during the planting, growing and harvesting seasons, Allotment Wars shows what happens when strangers are thrust together on the land with too much time on their hands and too many sharp tools.
Plotholders often face attacks from outsiders. In Kent, following a series of break-ins, two brave gardeners hunt a suspect in the local woods. However in Devon, there is a civil war brewing between the plotholders themselves. Prize vegetables are being snatched and sheds ransacked, and it looks like an inside job. What can the site committee do to combat the saboteurs?
Nearly 100,000 Britons are on allotment waiting lists. This high demand means that the pressure to maintain plots is equally high. If allotmenteers fail, eviction looms. A young plotholder in Manchester struggles to avoid such a fate.
In Newcastle, two men fight for the title of Champion City Gardener. Regular participants in the fiercely competitive vegetable shows, these rivals have not spoken for years and tension mounts as they face each other at the annual City Allotment and Garden Show.
Some people think this is over-dramatising allotments in a bad way. But it will show things that have happened to people I know online – arson that seems to be due to internal disputes. Power mad committee members ignoring rules and much more!
You should first assess what you have got. If it’s a foot deep in snow it can be very hard to work out where your allotment starts and finishes so you might need to wait until the snow has melted.
Measure the plot (or ask for measurements) and draw a plan.
Walk round the plot and try to identify what has been done previously. Obviously on a brand new untouched plot then you don’t have to worry about digging up an asparagus bed, or disturbing other perennials.
Work out what beds system has been put in place. Try to identify what is there, or has been grown recently. Look for areas with brassica crops in – these are likely to be standing still – and are easily identifiable. Look for evidence of crops left behind to rot. Mark everything down, take photos and ask questions of other plot holders who might remember.
Anything sticking up above ground should be investigated.
Anything underground that you discover needs identifying before you dig the whole area up.
If you clear areas that you have identified previous annual crops then you can start on your allotment. Remember crop rotation rules. If you can’t identify what something is then take a photo and ask someone with more knowledge.
Start things in pots so when you’ve prepared a bed you have something to plant.
If you have large areas that need hard work on then cover them up and work on them bit by bit. Aiming to dig an entire plot in a weekend isn’t feasible – a rotavator could do it if the soil was in reasonable condition but it is still hard work!
Use cardboard or weed suppressant sheet material to cover soil. Fix it down so that it doesn’t blow away when it gets windy.
Spend time deciding what you want to grow on your plot. This will be influenced by what is already there – if you have a fruit tree then you should probably keep it. If you don’t want it then offer it to someone on the allotment. They might even dig it up for you. Fruit bushes are worth keeping: raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries are good traditional plants on an allotment.
Ask on your site about free materials like mulch, or whether you can get manure delivered. There will be someone who will know where to source materials as cheaply as possible.
Break up your week with as many visits as you can rather than one big chunk of time. This is useful in poor weather when you can do a little and then go home and warm up, as well as preventing back strain or muscle ache which seems to be a common affliction for new plot holders.
