Many may wonder: 'What's new about growing pea plants on the windowsill? After all, peas already grow well in the open ground in the garden”. But it turns out that not everyone grows well in beds, and some gardeners who try sowing outdoors do not get a seedling or a harvest for 3 years straight. Pea seeds sown seem to disappear underground – possibly the beds are eaten by birds or eaten by grouse underground. Therefore, there are advantages to sprouting peas at home:

• A chance to get an early harvest. Sowing peas for seedlings – is a chance to win time. Peas are a fairly hardy plant and can be sown outdoors as soon as the ground is wet in April-May, but they are slower to germinate and develop in poor soil than on a windowsill in the house or in a greenhouse. Therefore, if you want to get young peas as early as possible, home sprouting is a good idea.

• Late šal spring. You may be planning to reseed your peas after harvest. In the case of late šilum, late sowing ruins any plans to get a double harvest from a single bed. When sowing peas for seedlings at home, it is possible to regulate the ripening time. But what if you rarely come to the garden and don't have time to sow pea seeds outside at the right time? Sow them at home in March, as pea seedlings do not take up much time or space.

• And if peas sown outside don't grow well in the beds. Many garden pests (moles, chickadees) like to feed on peas that have started to sprout and swell. It is also possible that you have sown poor quality seed in the field, which will result in uneven, sparse crops instead of neat rows. Growing seedlings at home will help to avoid this situation.

Pea seed preparation for sowing

And it's actually very simple and quick compared to fussy peppers or courgettes. It is best to sow peas for seedlings between 15 and 18 March.

First, soak the pea seeds for 1-2 days in šilt water (22-25º C). Soaking will help to select those seeds that are sure to germinate, and to pick out those that are spoiled and have lost their germination potential, as healthy soaked pea seeds will germinate slowly over the course of 36 hours. A paper towel or napkin moistened with water will do the trick.

Before planting, pea seeds should be disinfected in a 2% potassium permanganate solution for 20 minutes to protect them from diseases and pests.

Soil preparation for sowing peas

Soil for pea seeds must be disinfected, loose, aerated, permeable, neutral acidity (pH 6-7). Loamy loam and sandy loam are very suitable.

You can make a homemade soil mix with a 1:1:1 ratio of humus (or rot), a mixture of soil (i.e. after aspen, oak, poplar) and coppery sand without clay inclusions.

Sowing pea seeds for seedlings

Fill the sowing container up to 10 cm high with a soil mix or a branded substrate and water with cold (25°C) settled water. After 10-15 minutes, make a depression in the soil with the tip of the spade for the seeds (about 3 cm deep).

The spacing between the pea seeds should be 1 - 2 cm and between the rows 3 cm. After sowing, carefully fill the holes with soil and irrigate with water through a sieve.

If you are using a self-made soil mix, water the seeds after 6 hours with liquid humic fertiliser. If it is a ready-made substrate that has been fortified with nutrients, then it is sufficient to feed it with boron and molybdenum micronutrient fertilisers after 3-4 days.

Care for pea seedlings

Store the container of sown pea seeds indoors at a temperature of 22-25°C, but not in front of a radiator, preferably under a phyto-lamp (8-10 hours a day, 120 cm away from the nursery).

Pea seedlings grow quickly. The first seedlings will appear in 1-2 days. Then lower the temperature by 2–3 degrees. The soil in the nursery should be slightly moist all the time. Watering is recommended once every 1.5-2 days, and it is better to drain excess moisture from the drainage tray 5-8 minutes after watering.

Carefully loosen the soil surface up to 3 mm deep twice a week. It is a good idea to fertilise pea seedlings 7-8 days after sowing with liquid humic fertiliser on a weekly basis (although this is not compulsory).

Depending on the variety, pea seedlings can be transplanted to open ground outdoors after 15-22 days, and some after 10-14 days. This allows peas to grow faster at home in 10-14 days than in the garden in cool spring weather.