How to Grow Peas
Learn to Plant and Cultivate This Popular Legume
Peas are a typical spring time crop being planted as soon as the earth is unfrozen enough to turn. They are probably the first crop one would plant in the garden.
Peas are part of the legume family along with kidney beans, chick peas, etc. They may have originated in Middle East to Central Asia and are a cool weather crop. They’ve been around a long time: traces of them were found in Egyptian tombs and evidence of them in a cookbook; one of the first in Rome.
They prefer a site that is sunny or partially shady and protected from strong winds as they grow tall and leggy and can be damaged. They are a plant that extracts nitrogen from the air and stores it in small nodules at the roots so they should never be treated with a high nitrogen fertilizer. This will produce many leaves but not many peas. They do tend to drink a lot so they must be kept watered.
Early varieties will give fruit in about 12 to 14 weeks and later varieties will produce in about 15 weeks. In cold zones plant first crops from late March to early April. Next crops can be planted late April to early May. You can try another crop in May to be harvested in early June but once the temperatures get more than 72 degrees the plants will not produce fruit.
Planting
How do you know when to plant peas? Any old Irishman will tell you that it is when one can sit naked on the ground without getting a chill but the scientific community will tell you when ground temperature reaches 45 to 50 degrees. Many say to plant 6 weeks before the last expected frost date. Some will start their crop earlier by using perforated plastic sheeting placed over their plantings in February. The sheeting warms the soil and allows water in.
Soak your seed (which are the actual pea) in water for about 4 hours before planting. Plant in rows and sow seeds about 1 inch deep 3 to 4 inches apart. If the plants are overcrowded it will invite disease and pests.
Growing
Peas love lots of water and need to be watered regularly. You can mulch with organic material (not wood mulch) to prevent moisture from evaporating. Straw and peat moss are a good thing to use. They do not need to be fertilized as long as the soil is rich in organics. If you need to fertilize do not use fertilizer containing nitrogen (the first number in fertilizer composition ex: 5-10-10). In most cases you will not have to fertilize peas. The plants will grow tall and will need some sort of support. How much depends on the variety so check the bag of the seed packet to see what is suggested. You can place bamboo stakes near the plants and they will hold on and grow up. Netting can be purchased from the nursery to be wired to the stakes and will provide a sturdier surface in which to climb. Another good method is to stake chicken wire up and let the peas grow up the wire. Bush varieties will be fine with stakes about 3 feet high and once the plant gets as high as the stakes they should be pinched back so that energy will start going into the fruit. Vining varieties grow much taller and will benefit by a trellis that is up to 5 feet. You can stake up a panel of lattice for them to grow up.
In about three weeks you will see white flowers and pods starting to grow on your pea plants. This, of course is the fruit.
Learn how to harvest and store your peas and what diseases and pests can affect them. Also see recipes using peas.
For other information written by this author go to PrymeThyme On-Line.
pea pod
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