Description

Magnum Bonum pea
Pisum sativum

Shelling pea. Climbing plants, 2.50-meter support required. Sweet peas, delicious raw, cooked or frozen. The pods are not eaten, but can be used to make broth. An English heirloom variety dating from 1860, renowned for its good flavour and high productivity. The name means ‘Good Great’. Very rare.

Full sun, part shade. Sow directly outdoors in early May, 2 cm deep and 10 cm apart.

Germination: 99% in November 2023
Ecological seeds produced at Catherine’s Ornamental Garden.

Note
We bought our original seeds from Irish Seed Savers in 2016. We trialed it that summer, isolated enough from the other varieties to multiply the seed in case we liked it. Frankly, it met our criteria. The peas are large and sweet, and above all, the pods are uniform in size and thickness. So it’s easy to know when to harvest. For this reason in particular, our experience with Magnum Bonum has been much more pleasant than with the Tall Telephone variety, which is really difficult to harvest at the right stage. So we put it into production in 2017. In January 2018, it was new to our catalog and, as far as we know, being introduced on North American soil.

Pod production starts around 3-4 feet high. Sowing in early May will produce a harvest from August until the end of the season. A good way to maximize staking and spread the harvest over time is to sow a few Iona pea seeds with Magnum Bonum. As Iona is shorter, it will produce earlier and keep you waiting until the Magnum Bonum harvest.