Kelvedon Wonder
The all-rounder. Sow it every three weeks from late March and it will keep a household in peas all summer.
Kelvedon Wonder has been the standard early wrinkled pea in Irish and British gardens since the 1920s, and it stays there because it does everything reasonably well. It is sweet, it is short enough to manage at around 45 to 60cm, it crops heavily for its size, and it holds up better than most against the mildews that finish an Irish pea row off in late summer. If you only sow one variety in succession through the season, sow this.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Pisum sativum
- Type
- Open pollinated
- Category
- Early wrinkled
- Difficulty
- Easy, good first crop
- Hardiness
- Hardy, takes Irish frost
- In Ireland
- Grows outdoors unprotected
- Germination
- 7 to 14 days at 10 to 22C
- Sowing depth
- 5cm
- Spacing
- 5cm apart, 60cm between rows
- Height
- 55cm
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to harvest
- 11 to 16 weeks
- Harvest
- June to September
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Sowing and harvest calendar for Kelvedon Wonder
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Kelvedon Wonder pea seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Posted from Dublin Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Johnstown Garden Centre Irish Kildare garden centre with the widest branded range Third generation family business near Naas with the widest branded range, though popular varieties sell out by midsummer. Visit Johnstown Garden Centre , Co. Kildare
- Woodie's Usually the cheapest packet, click and collect nationwide Dublin headquartered chain, part of Grafton Group. Cheapest per packet and the only nationwide click and collect option. Visit Woodie's
Why it suits Ireland
The two things that shorten an Irish pea season are downy mildew on young plants in a cold damp spring and powdery mildew on old plants in a humid August. Kelvedon Wonder is generally sold with some resistance to the first, which matters more than it sounds, because a spring sowing checked by downy mildew never really recovers.
Its height is the other practical point. At around 55cm it needs only pea sticks or a low panel of netting, not a serious structure, and it does not act as a windbreak the way a metre-tall variety does. In an exposed garden that is the difference between a crop and a heap.
It is also a genuinely sweet pea, unlike the hardy round-seeded early types, so it is the first variety on this page worth eating raw out of the pod while you pick.
Growing notes
Sow from late March, once the soil has warmed to around 10C, and repeat every three weeks until the end of June. As a wrinkled variety the seed rots readily in cold wet ground, so resist sowing it in February. If you want peas that early, sow Meteor instead or start Kelvedon Wonder in guttering under cover.
Sow 5cm deep and 5cm apart in a flat 20cm drill, with 60cm between rows. Push the pea sticks or netting in at the same time.
Water thoroughly at flowering and while the pods are filling. Do not add nitrogen fertiliser: the plant fixes its own and extra nitrogen brings soft growth and mildew.
Pods carry seven or eight peas and are ready when well filled but still bright green. Pick at least twice a week, from the bottom up. Clear each row as soon as it stops producing rather than leaving it to mildew over the neighbouring sowing.
Common questions
Why is Kelvedon Wonder recommended for successional sowing?
Because it crops fast and predictably. Peas come in around 11 to 13 weeks from sowing, and the plant produces most of its pods in a two week burst before it stops. That makes it easy to plan: sow a two metre row every three weeks from late March to the end of June and you get a fresh row coming ready as the last one finishes. Longer-cropping maincrops are harder to schedule around and take up the ground for much longer.
Is it resistant to mildew?
It is usually listed as having some resistance to downy mildew, which is the one that shows up as pale blotches on young plants in cool damp weather, and that is a real advantage in an Irish spring. It is not immune to powdery mildew, the white dusty version that arrives in late summer, and neither is any garden pea. Sowing in succession and clearing each row as it finishes does more than any variety choice on that front.
Can I save seed from Kelvedon Wonder?
Yes, it is open pollinated and it comes true. Leave a few of the best plants unpicked, let the pods dry and go papery on the vine, then shell out the peas and dry them thoroughly indoors before storing somewhere cool. In an Irish August the pods often will not dry properly outdoors, so pull the whole plant and hang it under cover to finish. Stored dry, pea seed stays viable for about three years.
More peas to consider
Meteor
Open pollinated / First early, round seeded
The one to sow in November for peas in May, and the safest pea for a cold, wet or exposed Irish garden.
Growing notes and stockistsHurst Green Shaft
AGMOpen pollinated / Maincrop wrinkled
Grow this one for eating. Long pods carrying nine or ten sweet peas, and enough disease resistance to last into an Irish August.
Growing notes and stockistsOregon Sugar Pod
Open pollinated / Mangetout
The mangetout to grow here. Flat pods picked young, a long cropping run, and it keeps going into a damp August.
Growing notes and stockistsSugar Ann
AGMOpen pollinated / Sugarsnap
The sugarsnap for a small or windy garden, since it is short, quick to crop and finishes before the worst of the mildew.
Growing notes and stockists