Tips for growing peas

 
Peas are one of my favorite vegetables to grow in the garden. There’s nothing like having fresh peas straight from your own backyard, and growing peas can be so easy if you remember a few, simple things.

Peas can deal with a little cold

Peas are one of those vegetables that actually prefer cooler temperatures. In many zones you are often able to plant peas around St. Patrick’s Day when temperatures across the South of the United States are mild. In my zone, which is Zone 5b/6a, I wait until April to put the peas in the ground.

Peas can withstand cold as low as about 28 F (or -2C). Peas and pea seedlings will both tolerate these temperatures and may even a little lower if there’s a blanket of snow to insulate them. If there isn’t any snow, I recommended that you cover the peas and seedlings to keep them from being bitten by frost.

A good rule of thumb is to sow peas about a month before your last frost. The best temperature for growing peas is between 50 F and 70 F. By the time you’re able to plant all your summer vegetables, you should have some happy and budding pea plants.

Give them a soak

Peas need a lot of water to germinate. Since the pea itself is the actual seed for the plant, and it’s essentially dehydrated when you take it out of the package, soaking the pea allows it to absorb a lot of water and fast.

Some people feel like this is an old wives tale, but I’ve sown them to the ground directly without soaking them before and got nada.

I recommend that you soak peas 12 to 24 hours before you intend to sow them. That gives them plenty of time to drink of and get ready to grow.

To get them growing as quickly as possible, plant peas in raised garden beds like our’s {HERE} after soaking them. The soil in the raised beds will warm up faster than the surrounding ground.

Sow them correctly

Peas don’t mind being close to one another when growing so you only need to space them about an inch apart and one inch down in the soil. Being planted close together will help keep the weeds around them at bay and it will allow you to make efficient use of a garden bed for other companion plants.

You can sow different varieties of peas at the exact same time and you will have peas throughout the season. Unlike some vegetables, you don’t need to stagger their planting times. The different varieties will all mature at different points in the season.

Peas don’t mind like being messed with

When growing peas, I recommended to sow them straight into the soil. They don’t like having their roots tampered with and it can actually inhibit the yield of the plants later in the growing season.

Can you start them indoors? Yes, but they just don’t love the transition. If you plan to start them inside, make sure you start them in a peat pot that the roots can grow through – like these {HERE} – or starter pods {HERE} or even soil blocks so the roots are uninhibited.

Growing peas need support

I’m a big fan of growing vegetables up and peas are one of the vegetables that need some sort of trellis support as they grow. Unlike creating a pumpkin trellis {HERE}, pea plants don’t require a ton of support. You can buy simple pea trellises to support your plants like the to ones we used last year {HERE} or you could even make some with a couple posts and twine.

Not only does growing vertically look beautiful in the garden, but it also allows for better airflow and less chance of rot and disease. Also, growing peas up makes it harder for pests like rabbits and other pests to eat your harvest. Lastly, the pods will hang down so it makes harvesting a snap. 🙂

Keep the roots happy

Pea plants have shallow roots and they like to be watered deeply about once a week. To keep the roots moist, we always add mulch or straw to the bottoms of our plants. (We do this with all of them, not just the peas.)

When it comes to fertilizing them, don’t. Or at least don’t overdo it. We never tend to fertilize our peas since we build our beds up each year with the process described {HERE}. When growing peas, fertilizer can be too much of a good thing and actually damage the plant’s production.

Pick frequently and carefully

Picking peas on a regular basis will help to keep the plant producing. The more you pick, the more pea plants produce. Make sure to remove any peas that are overly mature to continue to help the plant and pick carefully. Pea plants are delicate and easily damaged if you pull at them too much. Since the roots are so shallow it’s even easy to pull the whole plant out with a tug that’s too tough.

Companion plants for peas

I’m big on companion planting here. I love the idea that two plants can help one another thrive. When planting peas, some of their favorite friends include:

• Beans
• Carrots
• Celery
• Peppers
• Radishes
• Cucumbers
• Corn (They can actually trellis up the stalks!)
• Spinach
• Tomatoes

Do not plant peas with members of the Allium Family such as onions, garlic, shallots, chives, scallions, leeks, etc.

Cooking and storing

Peas have the best flavor when they are fresh and steamed. Boiling peas can actually dilute their flavor by removing some of the sugars. If you want to freeze them, do so immediately to help retain their flavor. You can keep them frozen for about 6 months.

If you want to dehydrate them, that’s also an option. Dehydrating peas allows you to use them in stews and soups like our Homemade Vegetable Soup – basically recipes where you are able to rehydrate them.

 
Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope you enjoyed this post and hope to see you again here at Sugar Maple Farmhouse!

For more on our garden and gardening tips, click {HERE}.