Pea 'Petit Provençal' | The Big Veg

Name: Pea 'Petit Provençal' | The Big Veg
Brand: Laura Florals
SKU: PPP005
Price: 26.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

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Pea 'Petit Provençal' | The Big Veg

£26.99

The dwarf petit pois that crops early, stays compact, and mostly minds its own business.

There's sweet, and then there's just-picked-petit-pois sweet — the kind you eat standing over the plant before they ever reach a plate. 'Petit Provençal' is a classic early dwarf petit pois: small, green, tender peas that are honestly a world away from anything in a freezer bag.

Split one open, eat it raw, and you'll get it.

Because it's a dwarf, bushy type it stays compact, around 40–50cm tall, which makes it a brilliant one for pots, tubs and small spaces.

Sow it indoors over winter (November to February) for an early crop around May, or outside in spring for a later one. Fancy something more like mangetout? Pick the pods young and flat, before the peas swell, and eat them whole.

Peas are one of the kindest crops to start with. They germinate fast, they don't ask for much, and the more you pick, the more they give. No garden required — a deep pot by the back door will do the job.

What's in your kit

'Petit Provençal' pea seeds
Seaweed meal — a gentle, slow all-rounder to get roots moving
Wool pellets — hold moisture and keep the slugs honest
Comfrey pellets — potassium-rich, for plump, well-filled pods
A plain-English grow guide

What's not in your kit (on purpose):
No plastic planter and no bag of compost. You bring your own peat-free compost and an upcycled container — a bucket, a tub, an old crate with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. Less to post, less to bin, less to cost the earth.

Why choose this grow kit?

Sweet petit pois — small, tender and a world away from frozen
Dwarf and self-supporting: no canes, wigwams or supports to build
A great first crop — fast, forgiving, happy in a deep pot or bucket
Plastic-free — and posted plastic-free too
Every kit funds living wage jobs and horticultural training in Ayrshire

The bit that matters most

Every Grow Box funds living wage jobs and horticultural training right here in Ayrshire, for people overcoming homelessness. So your peas do a bit more than feed you.

Ships plastic-free to mainland GB.

Gardening, minus the gatekeeping.

Have a grow. Laura x

FAQs

Is this pea grow kit suitable for beginners?
Yes — peas are one of the kindest crops to start with. They germinate fast, don't ask for much, and this dwarf type needs no supports — a rewarding first grow with no garden required.

Can I grow peas in a pot or container?
Yes — this dwarf pea is happy in a deep pot, tub or bucket. Use one at least 30cm (12in) deep with drainage holes, in full sun or part shade. No canes or supports needed.

What do I need to supply myself?
Just peat-free compost and a deep container with drainage holes. The kit provides the seeds, natural soil feeds (seaweed meal, wool pellets and comfrey pellets) and a plain-English grow guide.

Is the packaging plastic-free?
Yes — the kit is plastic-free, and we post it plastic-free too.

Where do you deliver?
We ship across mainland Great Britain. We can't post seeds or planting material to Northern Ireland — that's a Royal Mail restriction on sending seeds, not our choice.

Grow Guide

Peas are one of the kindest crops to start with — fast to germinate, and they don't ask for much.

The easy indoor start (recommended up North): sow into deep pots or root trainers — peas send down long roots and like the room. Sow about 4–5cm deep, and keep them somewhere around 13–18°C to get going. They're usually up in 7–10 days. Once each seedling has two proper sets of leaves, start hardening them off — pop them outside during the day for a week or so, bringing them in at night, a little longer each day — before they live outdoors for good.

Or sow straight outdoors: March to June, into a deep container (at least 30cm/12in) or a bed. In Scotland, we run about 2–3 weeks behind the south of the UK, so nudge those outdoor dates later and wait for the soil to feel warm rather than cold and wet — peas sat in cold, soggy compost tend to rot rather than sprout.

Worth doing either way — soak them overnight. A soak in cold water the night before sowing softens the seed coat, so they germinate faster and more evenly. It's especially worth it for outdoor sowings: plump, pre-soaked peas get going quickly and spend less time sitting in the ground, which gives the mice less chance to dig them up and eat them (they love a dry pea seed). Don't soak longer than overnight, though — a full day and they can drown.

Spacing: in a pot, sow them fairly close — about 2–5cm apart — and there's no need to thin them out; peas are happy grown snug and even lean on each other a little.

Support: honestly, none needed — this dwarf, bushy type pea plant mostly holds itself up. A few twiggy sticks poked into the compost will keep it tidy in an exposed or windy spot (worth it in a Scottish garden), but it'll manage without.

Light: a sunny spot gives you the fastest, heaviest crop, but peas are good-natured about a bit of shade — part sun is fine, you'll just wait a little longer for slightly fewer pods. No blazing sun-trap required.

Here's a lovely thing about peas: they make a lot of their own nitrogen out of thin air (that's the legume magic), so they're not hungry plants and you don't need to feed heavily.

Wool pellets — once your seedlings are up. Scatter the wool in a ring around the base of your seedlings, on the surface (not mixed in) — a slug barrier (slugs adore a young pea) that also slows drying out. A loose ring, off the stems; wool swells when wet.

Comfrey and seaweed — from about 6 weeks. Your compost feeds the plants for the first month or so, so hold off feeding at sowing. From around 6 weeks — as they come into flower and start podding up — sprinkle the comfrey and seaweed over the surface around the base and water in. The comfrey's the one that earns its keep: potassium-rich, exactly what peas want for plump, well-filled pods rather than flat, half-empty ones.

Watering matters most once they're flowering and podding — let them go bone-dry then and you'll get fewer, poorer pods. Steady water = sweet, full pods.

Start picking once the pods swell and feel full, and here's the golden rule: the more you pick, the more you get. Regular picking tells the plant to keep making pods, so a plant left unpicked simply stops. Go over it every few days once it's cropping.

Fancy something more like mangetout? Pick the pods young and flat, before the peas swell, and eat them whole.

And the real reward: homegrown peas rarely make it as far as the kitchen. Split a pod straight off the plant, eat them raw and sweet on the spot, and you'll understand what all the fuss is about — that handful, eaten standing among your pots, is the whole point.

None of these mean you've done anything wrong — it's just peas being peas.

Seeds rot instead of sprouting: usually sown into cold, wet compost. Wait for a bit of warmth, and don't overwater before they're up. (Mice and birds also love pea seeds — an indoor start dodges both.)
Seedlings vanish overnight: slugs, almost always. The wool pellets form a barrier they dislike; a nighttime torch-lit patrol finishes the job.
White, dusty coating on the leaves (powdery mildew): common later in the season, especially if the plant dries out. Keep it watered at the base, give it a bit of airflow, and keep picking.
Lots of leaf, few pods: often heat, or letting it dry out while flowering. Keep the water steady once it's in flower.
Plant flopping about: normally fine for a dwarf type, but a few twiggy sticks tidy it up in a windy spot.

Stuck on something that's not here? Message us — that's genuinely what we're for.

New to this? Here's what's true for every kit we sell.

Compost — you supply your own peat-free compost. Any good bag will do. We don't include it (it's heavy, and you may already have some).

Container — almost anything with drainage holes works: an upcycled bucket, a trough, a big pot. No holes means waterlogged roots, so make some if there aren't any. We don't send a planter on purpose — growing in what you've already got is cheaper and greener.

Light — most things want a bright spot: a sunny windowsill, or outside once the weather's kind. Each guide tells you what that plant prefers.

Gardening, minus the gatekeeping. If a step ever reads like jargon, that's on us, not you.

Every Laura Florals kit is built around what your plant actually needs.

Your pea kit contains:

'Petit Provençal' pea seeds
Seaweed meal — a gentle, slow all-rounder to get roots moving
Wool pellets — hold moisture, and slugs hate crossing them
Comfrey pellets — potassium-rich, for plump, well-filled pods
A plain-English grow guide

What you supply: peat-free compost, and a deep container with drainage holes — an upcycled bucket, tub or crate is perfect.

Everything ships plastic-free. We can only post seeds and planting material to mainland Great Britain — sorry, Northern Ireland, that's a Royal Mail rule, not ours.

We will work quickly to ship your order as soon as possible. Once your order has shipped, you will receive an email with further information. Delivery times vary depending on your location.

Our goal is for every customer to be totally satisfied with their purchase. If this isn't the case, let us know and we'll do our best to work with you to make it right.