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Hurst Green Shaft are occasionally known in some documents as Hurst Greenshaft (see this RHS AGM document) and this gives a clue to their origins. Some assume that this pea variety has connections to one of the UK towns named Hurst Green.
This seems to be very unlikely because it is generally agreed that the company Hurst Gunson Cooper Taber Ltd provided Hurst Greenshaft pea seeds to the RHS for their AGM trials in 1985. So the "Hurst" part of Hurst Greenshaft is likely to be connected with that company.
How far back this pea variety dates is not well documented but is likely to be the late 1800s to the early 1900s.
Hurst Green Shaft peas are a maincrop pea variety and they will be ready for picking around 15 weeks after sowing. If you have followed our recommendations for sowing peas, this gives you a harvest date for Hurst Green Shaft peas (a maincrop variety) of the fourth week of June in average areas of the UK.
To set dates to be accurate for your home town, click here. All dates in this website will then be super-accurate. Your home town will be remembered automatically for all our pages and future visits to GardenCalendar.co.uk
Hurst Green Shaft is one of the most popular varieties of peas for UK gardeners and was given an AGM (Award of Garden Merit) by the RHS in 2011, their most recent trials of peas.
The pointed pods are medium to long in length and contain an average of nine to ten decent sized peas per pod. The overall yield per plant is average to good and they are often displayed at amateur garden shows. The peas are very suitable for freezing.
The height of Hurst Green Shaft pea plants is approximately 90cm (36in) and they have a spread at maturity of 25cm (10in), just above average for a dwarf pea plant.
Hurst Green Shaft will require some form of support especially in windy areas. Twigs from any shrubby plants around 90cm (3 foot) long from almost any shrubby plant will do the job.
We have raspberry and blackcurrant plants which are pruned each year and we store the prunings for use as pea plant supports. The thin stems from Christmas trees also provide excellent supports.
The Hurst Green Shaft pea variety is open pollinated which means that ripened peas can be saved from one year to the next and they will grow true to type. This involves very little effort, saves buying more seeds the next year and is a satisfying method of growing peas. See our description of how to do this here.
The best time for a first sowing of Hurst Green Shaft pea seeds outdoors in their growing position is second week of March in average areas of the UK.
To set dates to be accurate for your home town, click here. All dates in this website will then be super-accurate. Your home town will be remembered automatically for all our pages and future visits to GardenCalendar.co.uk. A second sowing in the middle of June will produce flowers when Pea Moths are unlikely to get at the flowers and cause a problem. Click here for advice on how to sow peas.
If you sow your first seeds indoors, this can safely occur a week earlier. When the seeds have germinated and the plants are a 5cm / 2in above soil level they will need to be hardened off for a couple of weeks before being planted outside.
Ongoing care after sowing Hurst Green Shaft peas is almost non-existent. Peas generate and use nitrogen generated by their roots so feeding is not required.
Immediately after sowing the pea seeds, water them in well. In normal conditions, a good watering when the flowers appear is advised and once again a couple of weeks after, when the peas are beginning to grow in their pods.
Being a Maincrop variety they should be ready for harvest from the first sowing during the fourth week of June in average areas of the UK.
To set dates to be accurate for your home town, click here. All dates in this website will then be super-accurate. Your home town will be remembered automatically for all our pages and future visits to GardenCalendar.co.ukAs with all garden peas they start to loose their sweetness (the sugars very quickly start to turn to starch) in as little as 30 minutes after picking. So for maximum sweetness pick as near to cooking or freezing them as possible.
Click the link below for our reviews of more pea varieties.
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