Do you remember back to nursery school days? If so your teachers probably took a jam jar and put a sheet of blotting paper inside it as a liner with some peas trapped between the paper and the glass jar. A little water was then poured in to damp the blotting paper and it was kept in a warm place. The peas germinated very quickly to delight the poor little souls being made to go to school.
You could try this some of with your old peas now to see if they are still viable.

Happy memories of doing the same with a Runner Bean on blotting paper !

Yes I remember. Ive done this activity with the under 5's children that I work with. Ive also done this with the autistic children I work with to. The only trouble is, at this age children are so inpatient the children pull them out of the pots as soon as they'vre put them in!!!

At least ive tried. I put them in the half rotted compost I told you about this morning and put them in the cold frame fingers crossed. If it doesnt work Im not going to cry over it - honest ha ha

You can but try .
I planted some Dahlia seeds which were about 3 1/2 years old and they've come up

Hi Hijuju. I love Dahlias but something strange happens every year they seem to go missing from the garden! I don't mean stolen dont know what happens to them, they just vanish!!