Irish Preans

Thursday, 10 September 2009 12:54

A first glance at the seeds from the Heritage Seed Library (for whom I was growing this as a Seed Guardian) seemed to back up the idea that this was a broad bean hybrid. The seeds are very large indeed, olive-tan in colour and somewhat flat, similar to Dutch Capucjiners but larger. They do resemble small old-fashioned broad beans such as the ancient Martock variety. They even have a black hilum, which is unusual in peas but common in broad beans. Irish Preans isn't a typical pea. It's exceedingly tall ... in excess of 8 feet ... and needs something suitably tall and sturdy to climb up. It may also need regular tying-in to prevent it from flopping over. Growth is voluptuous and the leaf axils have a small smudge of pink pigmentation at the base. The other thing that sets it apart is that it's incredibly late-maturing. Irish Preans buds It may take its time to produce buds, but when it does they appear in tight clusters and the flowers open in rapid succession. That's a trait much prized in commercial varieties as it leads to the ripening of the crop all at once, but it's not so desirable in the garden where a steady yield over a longer season is more useful. The flowers are beautiful, the bicolour pink and maroon type commonly associated with purple podded peas (although Irish Preans is a green podded variety) and consistently borne in pairs. As is usual with this flower colour, they take on a mauve-blue hue as they fade. And after the flowers come the pods, also in pairs of course, and forming an abundance of medium-sized flat green pods which make good mangetouts. They taste sweet, are relatively stringless and free from any obvious fibre layer. The fresh peas are large and pleasant enough to eat but there is a slight mealiness in the texture. It's worth being aware that Irish Preans does have an increased risk of being affected by the weather because it's so slow developing and it needs to be sown early enough in the season to allow it time to mature fully. Go to table of pea varieties