How to get some PEAS

[jal_ut]

PEAS

From some comments I have seen on this forum it seems many of you have had problems getting enough peas for a batch for dinner let alone enough for the freezer?

Here is what I have learned:

It takes quite a lot of plants to get a bucket full of peas.
One packet of seed is not going to do it. Get at least half a pound of seed.
Plant three rows 10 inches apart. 4 or 5 rows is even better.



I use my planter to drop the seed. You can see about how close it puts them.

Make those rows at least 8 feet long. 16 to 24 is even better.

They grow up and kind of hold each other up. No staking required.









Peas do like plenty of water.

[ReptileAddiction]

That looks great! From what I have read from James Crockett book's is that he spaces them very close in a trench. The farthest any of them are are an inch. He gets great production too (or I guess I should say did considering he is dead ).

[jal_ut]

There are several varieties of peas to choose from. Some produce a lot of pods all at once and are best suited for freezer peas. You get one big picking and another smaller one.

Others have the harvest spread out more for several pickings. These are best for eating fresh since you don't need such a large batch each time you pick.

The edible pod peas are another type. My pic with the peas with purple blossoms are edible pod peas.

Be sure to read about your variety and see how it is expected to perform.

[imafan26]

With the edible pea pods I do have to go out every day to pick them, otherwise the seeds swell and the pods get too old to eat. The more they are picked the more they make. When too many pods are allowed to stay on the vine to mature, then the peas stop producing.

Yours are looking mighty good.

[applestar]

When time is short before the summer heat is expected to arrive, GENERALLY speaking, flat edible pods "Snow peas" mature (i.e. reach eating size) first since they are harvested and eaten while the peas are still immature. Snap peas which are filled edible pods are ready to harvest next.

Green peas (shelled) take a little while longer to fill the pods (but you don't want them to get to the point where the pods are tighty stretched -- then the peas are starchy and you might as well save them for fresh or dried soup peas or next year's seed)

HOWEVER, regardless of purpose, the short/dwarf "bush" peas tend to mature earlier than tall "pole" peas.

[hendi_alex]

We are just fine with a small harvest. Walking the yard each day in May, we stop by our 20-25 feet of peas and have a snack with our usual glass of wine. The peas also make enough to add to stir fry or to add to a salad. Other than drying tomatoes, figs, and peaches, we don't can or freeze much of anything. Did freeze a few packs of corn last season. But mostly we settle for what happens to be coming out of the garden fresh at the time. Spring through fall gives a lot of variety, and winter its mostly salad greens and steamed greens of some kind.

Don't know what I would do with such a giant bucket of peas, except give them to lots of friends and family.

[mattie g]

That's great info...for those who have the space.

Unfortunately, there are many of us living in urban or suburban areas who have to make do with limited space in our gardens. I planted peas for the first time this year, and will be happy just to get something out of it. More of a learning experience than anything - hopefully I can plan out and get a good fall harvest after this spring one.

[hendi_alex]

I don't understand it, but we have never been able to get a fall harvest from sweet peas. Have tried many times. They sprout and grow, but slow down or get killed back before they have a chance to make any peas. Perhaps I need to start some in the air conditioned house in late August, to transplant into the garden in mid September. Maybe that will be an experiment for this year!

[mattie g]

I don't understand it, but we have never been able to get a fall harvest from sweet peas. Have tried many times. They sprout and grow, but slow down or get killed back before they have a chance to make any peas. Perhaps I need to start some in the air conditioned house in late August, to transplant into the garden in mid September. Maybe that will be an experiment for this year!

It seems like it should be pretty straightforward, but of course nothing is as easy as it seems!

[applestar]

With limited space, the key is to succession plant different crops in the same space, and even overlap a little -- sow/plant the next one while the previous crop is finishing up.

[jal_ut]

hendi_alex:

Don't know what I would do with such a giant bucket of peas, except give them to lots of friends and family.

Shell them and put them in freezer bags and freeze for use all winter. Oh, I forget, you don't have winter.

One of the pleasures of having a garden is sitting in the garden and eating fresh peas right off the vine.

Don't feel bad about fall peas, I don't have any luck with that either. Perhaps they are spring plants?

[Fourspot]

I grow snap peas in one bed and some containers and just snack on them when I'm walking around the garden after work. I also have no success when I try to do a successive planting in the same spot during the Summer for a fall harvest. They're usually diseased or produce puny pods.

[imafan26]

Fall planting of peas works in frost free areas. I plant peas Sept-February. I can extend that a bit if I plant on the East side of the house or in a semi-shaded location.

[joed2323]

All this talk about growing peas... makes me want to grow peas this year for the first time, I'm more of a green bean guy:)

James- when do you start sowing your peas in the ground, soon or now I'm assuming?? I'm guessing or hoping to start planting within 2 weeks as long as the weather finally shifts for the better...

Any kind of variety you guys recommend??

[jal_ut]

All this talk about growing peas... makes me want to grow peas this year for the first time, I'm more of a green bean guy:)

James- when do you start sowing your peas in the ground, soon or now I'm assuming?? I'm guessing or hoping to start planting within 2 weeks as long as the weather finally shifts for the better...

Any kind of variety you guys recommend??

Yes now is a good time to plant peas here. They are a cool weather crop and you can plant them early Spring as soon as your soil is dry enough to work. Mine is about there.

Varieties? I like Little Marvel for fresh eating peas, and Lincoln or Victory Freezer for freezer peas. Wando is a good one for later as they do well in warmer weather.

[JayPoc]

All this talk about growing peas... makes me want to grow peas this year for the first time, I'm more of a green bean guy:)

James- when do you start sowing your peas in the ground, soon or now I'm assuming?? I'm guessing or hoping to start planting within 2 weeks as long as the weather finally shifts for the better...

Any kind of variety you guys recommend??

Yes now is a good time to plant peas here. They are a cool weather crop and you can plant them early Spring as soon as your soil is dry enough to work. Mine is about there.

Varieties? I like Little Marvel for fresh eating peas, and Lincoln or Victory Freezer for freezer peas. Wando is a good one for later as they do well in warmer weather.

You blanche 'em first of straight to the freezer?

[hendi_alex]

Definitely not an either or type of thing. My peas have just started blooming. My green beans are up, but harvest is probably five weeks away. So about the time that the peas are through, the beans will take over.

[jal_ut]

You blanche 'em first of straight to the freezer?

Blanch them.

[JayPoc]

So all you are saying, is give peas a chance?

[sepeters]

Hendi, that surprises me, because I get poor performance out of peas of any kind in the spring here. But, the south is not the southwest, I guess. The only luck I have ever had is with snow peas in the "fall/winter" if you can call our seasons fall and winter. I usually just refer to them as "not summer."

I am giving peas a chance, as JayPoc suggested. This year I planted them here and there in the raised bed, where I had the space, just to see how they would do. The two that got the most sun got quite large very quickly and I harvested a whopping 5 pea pods from them...before they shriveled in the sun and were dead in a 2 day period. The rest followed them in short order.

Yesterday I noticed some very weird tendrils behind the cucumber and dove in to find one of the peas had crawled along the ground, under the cucumber and is thriving on the trellis, shaded by the bigger plant. After much sleuthing and inspecting I also discovered one more survivor growing between two tall vertical tomatoes on a trellis! Both had little flowers opening up on them! Neither of them seems to be getting even indirect sunlight, so I am not sure how they are surviving but seem to be the best I've done with spring peas so far!

[LGT]

How long will peas last in the freezer? My Grandma gave some to me a few years back and I just found them in the bottom of the freezer. They don't look freezer burned but am wondering if I am wasting my time cooking them.

[Gary350]

Jal is right. Plant peas close enough they climb on each other. You don't need stakes.

One think about peas, harvest quantity compared to planting quantity is a very low ratio compared to other seeds. You plant 1 pea seed your harvest maybe 50 pea seeds. You have to plant a lot of pea seeds to get a large harvest.

Unlike other crops, corn for example 1 seed produces 500 to 800 seeds. 1 tomato seed produces 5000 seeds. 1 bell pepper seed produces maybe 4000 seeds.

Peas are one crop we usually eat only the seeds.

[TheWaterbug]

So all you are saying, is give peas a chance?

Visualize whirled peas.