Snow Peas

This warm weather has got everything on the fast track. I am getting ready to harvest my snow peas.

I wanted to share my pics. Is anyone else harvesting yet?

http://georgiahomegarden.blogspot.com/2012/03/snow-peas-and-english-peas-ready-for.html

Hmmm, very nice! How thickly did you sow your seed?

camprn wrote:Hmmm, very nice! How thickly did you sow your seed?

On the Alaska peas, I sowed 3 double rows in one bed and 4 single rows in the other bed. The seeds were spaced a few inches a part.

The snow peas I planted 4 single rows with seeds also spaced a few inches a part.

Here is a post from February 26th and you can see how far apart they were spaced.
http://georgiahomegarden.blogspot.com/2012/02/garden-update-february-26th.html

It is amazing how quickly they grew in 28 days!

That's a lot of peas! They look wonderful, I'm still waiting to plant my sugar snaps.

Great garden. I have a few questions since I am a newbie to square foot gardening. What have you used to have the peas grow on? Is it the trellis' that Mel talks about in his book or something else? I see you are in zone 8 like me. Is it too late to do any peas this spring? The package says Jan-Mar & August. Should I just wait until August. They are Peas Oregon sugar Pod. Did you sprout yor peas before planting? Thank you for any help you can give.

Jojo

Hi Jojo,

If this was a normal year, you would be ok and if your beds are ready I say go for it. Just be aware that peas don't like the heat. I planted sugar snaps in Wilmington mid Feb and my son says they are growing well. I planted some up here on the northern edge of NC on 1/28 (weather was so warm I couldn't resist), more on 2/3 and a third set on 3/12. I didn't soak any of them. The 3/12 set broke ground in about 5 days. I have trellises for them, one is an old bed frame, another is like the one in the book, and a third is an old fan trellis I rigged up. My son is growing his up a fence. Last year I planted peas in Sep in Wilmington. Frost was late so we got a pretty good harvest. Peas can take a light frost.

Kay

jojo477 wrote:Great garden. I have a few questions since I am a newbie to square foot gardening. What have you used to have the peas grow on? Is it the trellis' that Mel talks about in his book or something else? I see you are in zone 8 like me. Is it too late to do any peas this spring? The package says Jan-Mar & August. Should I just wait until August. They are Peas Oregon sugar Pod. Did you sprout yor peas before planting? Thank you for any help you can give.

Jojo

My trellis consists of those metal green fence stakes that you see at Lowe's in varying lengths. They cost anywhere from $2 to $5 bucks a piece depending on size. Mine are 3 feet tall. The trellis material is plastic mesh fencing, kind of like chicken wire but in a plastic version. It costs about $12 bucks for a 50 foot roll. I attach the plastic to the poles using plastic electrical wire ties. The thing I like about it for growing snow peas is that it is cheap, and it is reusable. After you are done, just pull up the poles and roll them together. It works great for things that are light, I don't know if I would try it for things that grow super tall like pole beans, but for peas it works well for me. I also like it because its runs the whole length of the bed and not just on one end as in Mel's method in the book.

In my personal opinion I would say no on planting the peas now, but it all depends on when your 90 degree heat hits your area. Last year at the last minute I decided to plant some more snow peas in early March and I barely got a harvest out of them because May was so hot already. With it pretty much being April already, I would say you missed your window, but again it depends on the heat. I direct sowed my peas in the ground this year on January 3rd simply because I didn't want to make the same mistake this year.


People look at you kind of funny when you tell them your working in your garden right after New Year's, but that is how I roll.

Ahh, I forgot to mention, you will love the Oregon Sugar pod snow peas, they produce heavily compared to other varieties. I had to buy mine online because you can't find that variety in the stores where I live. They only have Melting Sugar Snow Peas, but I have been pleased with the Oregon Sugar Pod II's.