Snap Peas

[hoodat]

http://shop.nativeseeds.org/collections/peas/products/q022

this is likely the one that'd grow best for you Hoodat.

Thanks Marshall. That looks like a good bet for my climate. I'll give it a try next year. It's getting too late in the season to plant peas here. I'll be growing cowpeas this Summer, more for the rabbits than for me although I like them too. Wild critters would mow them down to the ground in Oklahoma so I know they're good rabbit fodder.

 

[hoodat]

My plan is to grow cukes where the peas are now so they can benefit from the nitrogen the peas leave. I'll grow beans on the rest of the trellis. My ground is well inoculated with Rhizobeum so I can plant beans anywhere in the garden and they'll thrive. Beans are one crop that has never given me any trouble.
BTW if your snap peas get ahead of you and get too mature they are excellent shell peas.

 

[897tgigvib]

Yep Hoodat, my snap peas are nice large round soup peas. They may have been selected and bred as snaps, and delicious raw that way too, but they are definitely still soup peas. So are the Alaska Peas. A smaller more dense kind.

 

[Mickey328]

I'll be attempting peas for the first time this year...I hope to get enough to can a few pints. We're in 5a here, and I'd LOVE any advice y'all are willing to offer

 

[MontyJ]

I'll be attempting peas for the first time this year...I hope to get enough to can a few pints. We're in 5a here, and I'd LOVE any advice y'all are willing to offer

Don't ask your significant other to help shell them

 

[digitS']

In early, out early - as Marshall says. There is likely to be nothing to gain by leaving peas on into the summer. You may well be able to enjoy peas again in the fall. Despite their ability to sprout in cool soil, don't be afraid to sow seed during the heat of summer.

A snow pea like Sugar Pod will grow fairly well as the temperatures begin to drop but they probably need to go in well before summer is on its way out. Growth will slow as the weather cools and they may even suffer some damage in the first frosts so it is best to plan on harvesting them about that time. I single out snow peas because you won't have to wait for the seeds to mature. Generally, they are quick to arrive in the kitchen and you don't even have to wait for the pods to develop! The flowering tips to the vines are delicious.

Peas are not the most productive of crops but you can get a lot out of the space if you have 2 crops coming off the same ground. And yes, you can grow and harvest peas, wait a few weeks, and plant peas right there again for the fall. That may make additional sense because the "work" to peas (other than shelling) is mostly in putting up a trellis. Make it sturdy because the vines will catch a lot of wind and if things get kind of topsy-turvy out there, the pea vines will grow that way and harvesting can be a mess.

Steve

 

[Mickey328]

Don't care how much he paid you for that comment, Monty...he's not getting out of the chore! LOL

Thanks Steve. I hadn't thought about wind, but should have...we get plenty here. Although I like snow peas for fresh eating, I'm hoping to actually can some of the small early peas, so any advice on type would be greatly appreciated.

If I understand correctly, they're most productive in cooler weather, right? So, plant as soon as the soil can be worked and then harvest before the hot weather hits and then a second crop in the ground perhaps early August for early Oct harvest?

 

[digitS']

That's my schedule, Mickey. But, once again, I rely on snow peas first.

The wrinkly seeded peas, like most of the shell peas, have a high sugar content. They can rot in our soil before sprouting. We don't can so I'm mostly growing things for fresh use. Then, I try to extend my season as much as possible for peas. Really, for anything. . .

For a shell pea, I like Green Arrow.

Steve

 

[lesa]

That is how I do it, Mickey. As soon as I can work the soil, I put the peas in. They are ready for eating long before any of my other veggies, here in zone 4. I haven't had a lot of luck, with a fall crop. We usually end up with cold weather, and they just don't have time to mature. One of my very favorite crops. Nothing beats fresh peas!

 

[hoodat]

My snap peas grow up the trellis and when they run out of space there they fall over onto the roof over my rabbit cages. Half of my picking is done overhead. If they don't mildew too badly at the end of the season I harvest the vines and dry them as peavine hay for my rabbits.