I’d love to hear which method you prefer and any changes you make to make the recipes your own. Why Use Bicarbonate of Soda Anyway?

At harvest time, popcorn ears are hard, unlike more familiar yellow sweetcorn, and they mature late: snap dried ears from the stalk, remove the papery husk and leave to dry indoors for another month. Once seedlings grow large enough to handle, separate into individual 8cm to 10cm pots of multipurpose compost. Peas add a touch of sweetness and a little oomph to your culinary creations. Toss them with crisplettuce, some feta cheese, and a zesty lemon dressingfor a refreshing salad that uplifts a lunch, dinner or picnic. You can also pair them with sweetcorn. Super-sweet sweetcorn is a tuna mayo sandwich essential, but also a salad game changer too. Sandwich seeds between sheets of soaked kitchen towel in a plastic tub and keep them warm in an airing cupboard Drain and rinse the peas and place them in a pot with about 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the desired consistency is reached. Note: How long you have to simmer the peas will depend on the particular crop and the age of the peas.Again, if you want to make authentic mushy peas like the way they’re served at pubs and fish & chip shops throughout Britain, with the right flavor and right texture, be sure to use marrowfat peas. Put the ham in a largish pan. Cut the onion in half (no need to peel unless it’s filthy) and stud with the cloves. Very roughly chop the celery and carrot (again, no need to peel) into a few pieces and add to the pan along with the herbs. Barely cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Skim the top, then turn the heat down and simmer for about two and a half to three hours, until the ham is tender. Allow to cool in the liquid. Supermarket seeds can fail to sprout if they’re underripe or heat-treated, so test first by pre-germinating them before you sow: The bulk of the soup is, of course, its peas. I suspect, from the description of dried peas in Peter Brears’ Cooking and Dining in Medieval England as “old or white”, that the varieties grown then were somewhat different to those available today. As I’m not planning to recreate a medieval banquet, this fact doesn’t particularly trouble me. Extract and clean the stone, then bury it on its side, just below the surface, in a pot of multipurpose compost.

Sow the seeds close together - you might want to arrange them more neatly than this! The darker seeds in this picture are fava beans (small broad beans) that can be grown in the same way. 5. Cover Place soaked peas into a saucepan and add 600ml (approx. 1 pint) of boiling water.2. Add sugar and salt to taste.3. Boil gently for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water has been absorbed or the texture is satisfactory. Microwave So happy when I found Bachelors bigga dried peas here. I love green pea soup, but I can't find dried green peas in Sweden. These makes a lovely soup, just soak them in water the day before, and then cook them with spices and some ham. Everyone in my family loves it, and it's perfect on a cold winter day. 1 box makes enough soup for two adults and two kids. Also perfect for mushy peas, if you like that.Winkle the stone from your breakfast avocado and you can grow your own houseplants, too. Avocados are tall, glossy-leaved and satisfyingly jungly: it might take a few tries, but once you find a properly ripe stone they sprout quite easily. Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water. Place the dried marrowfat peas in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them so they’re covered by at least 3 inches of water. Give the peas a stir then leave them to soak for at least 12 hours. After about a week (longer in cold weather) the pea shoots will begin to emerge![/caption] 7. Harvest and enjoy!

But don’t make it a habit: “ware”, or eating potatoes, aren’t vetted as carefully for plant diseases as seed potatoes. Wash shop-bought spuds, then pop them into a warm, dark place to encourage the eyes to start growing. Whether finally getting our gardens into shape or adding new life into our homes with an array of houseplants, now is the perfect time to line up the seed trays and get sowing. Cover with more compost, water, then keep in a propagator or on a sunny windowsill and you’ll have seedlings to pot on within a few weeks. Source grocery supplies from any supermarket; for organic veg try farmers’ markets; and for more specialised veg, try Asian supermarkets.The other key to making authentic mushy peas is to avoid embellishments. Mushy peas are simple: Marrowfat peas, baking soda (for softening), water and salt. That’s it! They’ll taste just like you remember them. You’ll want sunflowers, of course, plus smooth, rounded red or beige millet ( Panicum miliaceum), and long, slender canary grass seed ( Phalaris canariensis), both are pretty annual grasses with nectar-rich flowers.