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How We Plant Peas
 Peas like cool weather and full sun, so plant them as seeds as soon as the garden soil can be worked, mid to late April being ideal. They are frost tolerant and are basically easy to grow, but once the weather begins to remain above 70 degrees F during the day, the peas do not do well. We usually plant a sugar snap pea, which grows as a bush, making them easy to pick.
To plant, cut a 12” slit in the plastic, make shallow holes with a pencil about 1” deep, every 2” or so. Add the inoculant (fertilizer), put pea into hole and cover with soil, watering lightly.
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| Making end cuts first |
Cut out plastic between ends |
Make holes with pencil |
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| Add fertilizer to the holes |
Put peas into holes |
Cover with soil
Water
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Peas such as a sugar snap and snow (oriental) peas can be eaten whole – that is, with the pods as well as the peas inside of the pod. However, to do this they must be picked when they are very young and tender. We do this for a number of weeks and then the pea pods overwhelm us, so we begin to allow them to mature more, shuck the pods and remove the peas. If you are not sure when to harvest and/or eat the pods, simply pick a few of them and give it a try. After a while, you’ll be able to just look at the pea pods and tell when they are ready to be picked, cooked and eaten.
We usually plant NK Sugar Sprint bush peas during the last week of April. If heavy spring rains occur, however, they can rot before they have a chance to germinate, which has happened to us. If peas are left on the vine too long they can become tough and starchy, so you must harvest them when they mature. They usually all do well, and Corkie the dog just loves them! In fact, we do too!
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