Must-see gardens in the London area
 

I will be taking myself, my husband, my American aunt and my two kids (ages 10 and 11) down to London in the middle of August (I live in Fife). I've never seen any gardens in that area, and I'm very keen to be able to visit at least one. If the garden in question has features that will appeal to the group, my petition will go over a lot more successfully ;). Which gardens would you suggest? I think we'd consider anything within an hour's train journey of the centre of London and we won't have a car.

Many thanks!

Mangetout vs Sweet Peas (paranoid newbie beg grower)
 

On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 Mitulove wrote:

I'm growing some mangetout and miniature sweet peas on my patio and
whilst the stems are quite different and the leaves grow in a different
formation, the flowers look very similar. I've read that the pods of
the latter can be quite toxic. It's not that I don't trust the plant
labellers at Dobbies, but the mangetout was one tray put in with a bunch
of sweet peas and beans. Is there any way to tell with absolute
accuracy whether you've got an edible pea or one that will send you to
hospital?

I've got a couple photos of the mangetout I'm growing--if someone could
confirm that it's what I think it is, I'd be most grateful :)

http://tinyurl.com/37nhnts

http://tinyurl.com/35wvaju

That is mange-tout. The pods of sweet pea are much smaller.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

Mangetout vs Sweet Peas (paranoid newbie beg grower)
 

In article , Mitulove.6b8b9a6
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

I'm growing some mangetout and miniature sweet peas on my patio and
whilst the stems are quite different and the leaves grow in a different
formation, the flowers look very similar. I've read that the pods of
the latter can be quite toxic. It's not that I don't trust the plant
labellers at Dobbies, but the mangetout was one tray put in with a bunch
of sweet peas and beans. Is there any way to tell with absolute
accuracy whether you've got an edible pea or one that will send you to
hospital?

I've got a couple photos of the mangetout I'm growing--if someone could
confirm that it's what I think it is, I'd be most grateful :)

http://tinyurl.com/37nhnts

http://tinyurl.com/35wvaju

Thank you!

Those are mangetout leaves and pods
Janet

Mangetout vs Sweet Peas (paranoid newbie beg grower)
 

David Rance wrote:
confirm that it's what I think it is, I'd be most grateful :)

http://tinyurl.com/37nhnts

http://tinyurl.com/35wvaju

That is mange-tout. The pods of sweet pea are much smaller.

And hairy, iirc. Or is that not guaranteed? IME, sweet pea pods are very
distinctive compared to mangetout.

Mangetout vs Sweet Peas (paranoid newbie beg grower)
 

On 18/07/2010 18:57, David Rance wrote:
On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 Mitulove wrote:

I'm growing some mangetout and miniature sweet peas on my patio and
whilst the stems are quite different and the leaves grow in a different
formation, the flowers look very similar. I've read that the pods of
the latter can be quite toxic. It's not that I don't trust the plant
labellers at Dobbies, but the mangetout was one tray put in with a bunch
of sweet peas and beans. Is there any way to tell with absolute
accuracy whether you've got an edible pea or one that will send you to
hospital?

I've got a couple photos of the mangetout I'm growing--if someone could
confirm that it's what I think it is, I'd be most grateful :)

http://tinyurl.com/37nhnts

http://tinyurl.com/35wvaju

That is mange-tout. The pods of sweet pea are much smaller.

David


I've noticed that amongst my mangetout peas there are one or two
"sports" that aren't the same variety as the rest. I don't grow sweet
peas so I don't know how to compare anyway. These odd "sports" tend to
have much smaller pods that fill with peas more quickly. I just assumed
they were accidental crosses that had sneaked in where they were grown
or a problem with packaging. I've eaten them without ill effect, so
guess they weren't sweet peas.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

Thank you for all the replies! I'm a bit confused though---I did make a post about mangetout, but I'm seeing this as the post I made about London gardens. Is it just me? I have no idea what I might have done to have broken the internet so well. lol