If you have access to saplings or something similar consider making "teepees" and planting the peas around each leg. Works great, and is very neat looking in the garden. When the peas are done you can then put in some pole beans if you're so inclined.

Just take a helper, push in a pole or sapling at an angle, keep adding and tieing at the top. Fast and painless.

Ev

Read this discussion from last spring, it mentions many methods for keeping both short and tall peas off the ground, plus some pictures.

Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Peas and trellising discussion

I use trellis netting for both (Commercial names Trellis-plus or Hortonova). It is available in lengths from 10' to 250' from many retail sources.For pole varieties (which I prefer) I sink a sturdy post at each end of the row and fasten a plastic-coated 1/8" cable to each post, and hang the trellis net from s-hooks, If additional support is needed because of sagging, I use poles from Christmas trees that I've removed the branches from. For bush crops, I put 3' high posts in the corner of the bed, run the same cable down the length of each side, and connect the net so it hangs in a V shape over the beds. The peas grow up and out towards the path, instead of in towards the center of the bed, so they're easier to pick and the growth is not as dense. Either way,the poles must be well set, or the weight of the crop will pull them down. The netting lasts many years, and can be used for many other crops. Chicken wire has holes that are too small to reach through, which can make harvesting annoying. Rabbit fencing is a little better. Pea brush would be my second preference, because you can direct the growth towards the outside of the bed, and you can compost them with the vines. Any kind of tepee or tent structure is inconvenient if you have wide beds like I use because it means you have further to reach, which makes for slower harvest. If I had a lot of money to throw around I would use cattle panel, but 1000' of it gets pricey.

Around here, it is also time to trim both my crepe myrtle trees and butterfly bushes. I use the trimmings as pea stakes.

I have a very small crop of English peas supported with short pieces of bamboo.

Wow! Those are some tall peas! What variety did you grow?

The vines in the photo are ALDERMAN
They grew TOO TALL! Past my 6' trellis. They were prolific, but difficult to manage and harvest.
Thanks to "sunnibel" and the link! I read all of those entries and I am still a bit confused, but I guess I am now leaning towards peasticks.

I wonder about a livestock panel about 18 inches off the ground (horizontally) over my raised bed. What does anyone think about that?

In todays world you need to ask if you really want to bother with a variety that requires support when there are many varieties that do well without support. Hassles of picking around supports for a crop that is finished by the end of June and will add to renovation efforts doesn't always make sense to me. I'm all in favor of supports for certain crops but when it comes to peas and beans I opt for the shorter stemmed varieties.

Well, I prefer the tall types of peas. More yield in a smaller footprint. And I have yet to find a short pea with pods as large and long as the Telephone/Alderman peas. That means less work per meal. And I don't like fishing around near the bottom of those short vines looking for the peas, I find it difficult. But I am on the tall side. Oh, and the last thing is I often don't mulch around my pea vines and I got fed up with the splash up of dirt on the pods of the short vines. When the peas are done I don't remove the trellis, just plant something else that wants support like cucumbers or beans. These are just my personal feelings though. Cheers!

Huh, your pole method looks so good, Lonmower, I'm not sure why you'd change? I've finally devoted all of the south facing wall to vines - peas in winter/spring, tomatoes in summer/fall - by screwing in eye-hole bolts all over the fence and running wire or twine loosely from bolt to bolt (then clipping away & replacing if it's a tangle. It looks a little sloppy at times, but cheap and effective, so far.

{{gwi:21608}}

Check out the link...it is 2010 Pea Vines
My Pea Picker can't reach her peas

Here is a link that might be useful: 2010 Oregon Pea Picker

The problem isn't the plants, it's the picker...

Here is a link that might be useful: Save the Aldermen!

On a more serious note, your idea with the horizontal cattle fence has two potential issues that I envision. The first is that the peas would benefit from some support well before they reached the height you propose, and the second is that you might still have trouble reaching the peas below, or in the center of, the grid, as they tend to be 4' or more sections. Perhaps set at a 45 degree angle it might eliminate those problems.