APPEARANCE, TASTE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF KELVEDON WONDER PEAS

Kelvedon Wonder are dwarf peas and you can expect them grow to a height of 60cm / 24in and a spread of 25cm / 10in. The pods are neither short nor long and contain an average of eight peas. When grown in the garden and eaten fresh they are sweet and tasty, they also freeze very well.

Disease resistance is fair to good. This variety has natural resistance to both Mildew and Pea Wilt. The
other common pest of peas, Pea Moth, can still be a problem. The best way round the Pea Moth problem is to sow your Kelvedon Wonder in pots / cardboard tubes early in the season under cover and then plant them out when you would normally sow seed outside.

Not only will this reduce losses from birds and other unwelcome visitors but the plants will also flower slightly earlier. The Pea Moth is in full flight from mid-June onwards and they may not get the chance to damage your peas if they are started off early.

A second sowing of Kelvedon Wonder in mid-June will extend the cropping period and peas sown at that time will flower after the Pea Moth can damage them.

This is a dwarf variety but we strongly recommend giving them some form of support. Twigs up to height of 60cm / 2ft above ground are ideal supports. This stops the pea plants from flopping over onto the ground which reduces the chances of disease and also makes harvesting much easier. For much more general information on growing peas click here for our in depth article with a unique adjustable growing calendar.

POSITIVE POINTS FOR KELVEDON WONDER
A tried and trusted variety grown for many decades. Good disease resistance. Crops reliably and well producing sweet flavoured peas. This variety was given an Award of Garden Merit by the RHS in 1997 which was reconfirmed in their 2012 trials. This is an open pollinated variety so you can save seeds
and they will come true to type next year.

NEGATIVE POINTS FOR KELVEDON WONDER
None.

WHEN TO SOW KELVEDON WONDER PEAS

The planting and harvest dates used below are correct for the UK average. If you want them to be even more accurate and adjusted for your area of the UK click here. It only takes a minute and the adjustment affects every date in this site and lasts for six months.

The date for sowing Kelvedon Wonder peas is dependent on where you live in the UK and if you can cover the ground beforehand with cloches or black plastic. As a guide the best time sow pea seeds in the open ground is the second week of March and two weeks earlier when sowing under cloches / black plastic. our in depth section on sowing pea seeds at the correct time in your area of the UK by clicking here.

WHEN TO HARVEST KELVEDON WONDER PEAS

Kelvedon Wonder is a second early variety of pea and harvesting should begin in the first week of June and will finish three to four weeks later.

BUYING KELVEDON WONDER SEEDS IN THE UK

This is a very common pea variety which is almost always available at garden centres, online seed merchants, supermarkets and other stores. The most expensive (as normal!) for Kelvedon Wonder pea seeds we could find is T&M at £2.99 for 250, the cheapest of the reputable online seed merchants was Kings seeds at £1.40 for 350 seeds.

For those living in France looking for this variety of pea, search them out under the name “Merveille de Kelvedon”, they are one and the same variety!

We recommend buying your seeds from certified suppliers. We would avoid buying them from online general retailers such as as Amazon or E-bay unless you know exactly who is supplying the seed. Common problems buying seeds from non-specialist suppliers include poor germination rates and varieties not being as stated on the packet.