In some gardening circles, a gardener’s skill is measured by how soon he or she gets the first mess of shelling peas on the table. Peas are a good choice for such competition, because raising a good crop demands the best soil you can muster up as well as timely sowing and harvest.Â
Peas are a cool weather crop (50 to 70 degrees F. optimum) so must be planted early. Not too early, though, or the seeds are apt to rot. Not too late either, for the plants languish in hot weather.
The earliest possible crop of shelling peas is also a worthy goal because peas are such a quintessential garden delicacy. Sugars in fresh picked peas start changing to starches just as soon as the pods are picked. It’s impossible to buy fresh, frozen, or canned peas that match the flavor of homegrown ones.
I admit to having a competitive streak. Cheating a little could up the chances of my getting the first peas on my table. Well, not exactly cheating, but taking some measures that I, at least, consider not to be in the spirit of the competition. For example, growing smooth-seeded shelling peas, such as the variety Alaska, which are the earliest to ripen. They don’t taste as good as wrinkle-seeded types, whose seeds wrinkle up because they are so high in sugars. I also won’t use fungicide-treated seeds, which can be planted earlier with less danger of rotting. Handling poison coated seeds takes the fun out of pea planting. And I won’t start peas indoors in pots because it would be impossible to manage enough transplants to get a decent meal. The yield is low from individual plants, but plant a row of pea seeds two inches apart and you get a mess of shelling peas.
As far as when to drop those first seeds into furrows, too many gardeners bow to tradition and sow them — or try to — on St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick’s Day may be the ideal date for planting peas in Ireland, but sometimes January is more on the mark in Florida and May in Minnesota. Here in New Paltz, I plant peas on April 1, which is 7 weeks before the average date of our last killing frost.
Pea seeds germinate as long as the soil temperature is above 40 degrees F. I have been known to account for the vagaries of a season by sticking a thermometer into the soil to find out exactly when the soil hits that temperature in spring. Another option is to watch for crocus blossoms, which begin to unfold at about the same time.
No matter when peas are planted, there are tricks to getting the sprouts up quicker and growing better. Presprouting the seeds indoors gives the seeds a slight jump on the season once they’re in the ground, and planting less deeply than recommended or in raised beds gives them warmer soil, which also speeds sprouting and growth. Take note, though: because of slow growth in the early, colder part of the growing season, dramatic efforts at getting peas going will not translate into equally dramatic early harvests. A few days earlier planting might translate to only a few hours earlier harvest.
If peas have never grown before in your garden, sprinkle the seeds with a bacterial inoculant, available in stores, so plants can make use of atmospheric nitrogen as fertilizer. Make sure its the inoculant for peas, because other legumes — beans, for example — have their own bacterial inoculant species.
Correct plant spacing and propping the vines up off the ground are other yield enhancers. Rather than single rows, I sow double rows about six inches apart, with two inches between peas in a row. If you plant in beds, run a double row up the middle of the bed.
Peas reign as king in British gardens, and for traditional staking there are pea twigs — tree and shrub prunings trimmed so their branches lie in one plane, then pushed into the soil between each double row with their butt ends down and branches fanned out down the row. Even before the vines start their ascent, the row of pea twigs can be attractive — and oh so British. I forego the twigs and the accent with a temporary fence of chicken wire, which is quicker to erect.Â
Dwarf varieties and so-called afila types, with tendrils instead of leaves, can support themselves in a double row or mass planting without any trellis. Then again, being short or having less leaf area makes for lower yields.
Planting practices for snap peas and snow peas are the same as for shelling peas. The only difference is when to harvest them. Harvest snap peas — and the lanky Sugar Snap is my favorite — when the pods are fully plump, and snow peas while the peas are just starting to bulge within the pods but the pods are still flat. (I have no favorites among snow peas.)
Among wrinkle seeded shelling peas, you’ll find some — but not a whole lot of — differences in flavor from one variety to the next. Therefore, also factor into your variety choice vine size, which determines how big a trellis you need, and days to maturity.
As long as I am going to have to reach to pick a pod, I also want it to be stuffed with as many peas as possible. That said, two varieties stand out as my all-time favorites: Green Arrow and Lincoln. I actually can’t tell them apart.
No matter what the variety, though, timely harvest — which may mean every other day, or sooner, in hot weather — is all-important to best quality. Harvest while the pods are plump and still vibrant green.
If shelling peas have one fault as compared with snap peas or snow peas, it’s that they, of course, need to be shelled. Which takes time, too much time for some gardeners.
In the interests of science, I once decided to quantify the actual time involved. To my surprise, I was able to pop open about six quarts of pods to fill a two quart container of shelled peas in only thirty minutes — not really a bad rate, and not really an awful a job when it’s June, you’re sitting outside in the shade, and a warm breeze is caressing your back.
For their delectable flavor when fresh-picked, I highly recommend growing some shelling peas, even if you don’t compete!
New Paltz writer Lee Reich is the author of A Northeast Gardener’s Year, The Pruning Book, Growing Figs in Cold Climates, and six other books on a diversity of gardening topics. He is also a garden consultant specializing in organic growing of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. He hosts workshops at his New Paltz farmden. For more information, go to www.leereich.com.
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