help me save the peas!

[boricuaqueen327]

I started some peas in pots in order to buy some time between planting them and getting the garden ready for the next batch of plants. I am worried that I have waited too long and ruined them. They are getting pretty tall and tangled up with each other because I didn't have a trellis for them yet. Is there anything I can do to untangle them? Is it too late to get something for them to climb? I could always plant some more but I would rather save these. Also, what are some super cheap trellis ideas? I am student teaching so have no income. My boyfriend and my dad are pretty good with tools and things so I could have them put something together for me if I had any idea what I could use. TIA!

[cschick]

Originally Posted by boricuaqueen327

I started some peas in pots in order to buy some time between planting them and getting the garden ready for the next batch of plants. I am worried that I have waited too long and ruined them. They are getting pretty tall and tangled up with each other because I didn't have a trellis for them yet. Is there anything I can do to untangle them? Is it too late to get something for them to climb? I could always plant some more but I would rather save these. Also, what are some super cheap trellis ideas? I am student teaching so have no income. My boyfriend and my dad are pretty good with tools and things so I could have them put something together for me if I had any idea what I could use. TIA!

I've always found that even when offered a trellis, peas tend to prefer to climb one another.

You can pick up packs of bamboo poles (5 or 6 feet tall) at most garden centers and make a teepee out of them. I currently have patches of peas ignoring a bamboo teepee, a large triangle tomato cage, and an upsidedown small tomato cage (held down with bricks).

[CariOfOz]

I am in agreement with the PP I have peas that are completely oblivious to the fact that they have nice cages to climb up... they're just utterly disinterested in them! So no matter wha tyou do, they'll likely still climb up each other, you should be able to just put the whole thing in the ground if that was your plan, and they ought to do fine!

[cschick]

Originally Posted by CariOfOz

I am in agreement with the PP I have peas that are completely oblivious to the fact that they have nice cages to climb up... they're just utterly disinterested in them! So no matter wha tyou do, they'll likely still climb up each other, you should be able to just put the whole thing in the ground if that was your plan, and they ought to do fine!

Sometimes when my peas get really tall and start falling all over the place, I go out and TIE them to their supports with kitchen string. Then they merrily start growing in any direction away from the support that they can.

[Laurienna]

I have a fairly large garden and I don't want to buy treillis for everything so here is what I do for peas: I use branches that have been trimmed from bushes and trees and tie them together to make a tic tac toe kind of grid, put it upright with longer branches going in the dirt. I add string on the grid too: the peas like that a lot. It works very well for me and is very cheap

[mindymom]

I have tried to untangle the vines before and found that they are too delicate and end up breaking. But they will grow and make peas okay even tangled up if you give them some support.
I use twine tied into a grid about 4" square and hung from U-type fence posts at either end of the plot. It tends to sag a little as the season goes on, but it all cost less than $10 at my local big box. I get medium-duty twine as the cheapest stuff falls apart after a month or two outdoors and it's time-consuming making the trellis.
Good luck with the teaching!

[plantnerd]

In the furture direct- sow the peas. They are legumes and don't aprreciate transplanting. Tangles are no biggie, just put some chicken wire near them and they'll climb from there. Don't try to seperate them, you could break the vines.

[carrotsprout]

i keep a roll of curly ribbon on a pole in the garden for tying up messy stuff.

for cheap trellising if you have no branches--paint sticks, string and staples. you'll need to tie your peas to it of course.

if i have stuff get too big and tangled i use trellising to redirect. start with what you can see the end of and follow it in. it's easier than it seems. don't worry if you just get some of it.

i use branches like another poster suggested. sometimes you get a from that too!