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Video: How to Grow Peas • From Seed to Harvest
Today I'm sowing 'Super Sugar Snap' peas, one of my favorite varieties with wonderful 3-inch long, very crispy and sweet pods.
Planting Peas
Peas can be planted in early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked.
Pick a sunny site. Amend with some compost or aged manure, and get ready to plant.
I'm going to plant these peas in a 3-inch wide band at the base of my trellis, and I'm going to space the seeds about 1–1½ inches apart. We'll cover them with about ½–1 inch of soil.
Pea seeds take around 7–10 days to germinate and they don't have to be thinned.
Trellising
Pea varieties that grow shorter than 3 feet don't need a trellis. Just space the rows 12–18 inches apart.
For taller varieties like 'Super Sugar Snap', plant them at the base of a trellis or pea and bean netting, and install that before you sow the seeds.
Growing Peas
The 'Super Sugar Snap' peas are growing really well. and happily climbing up their trellises. Sugar snap types need a sturdy trellis because they get really tall. They can get up to 6 feet tall, so make sure you provide lots of support. You can use wire mesh trellises or wood and string trellises, or hang pea and bean netting between stakes.
I also water once or twice a week if there's been no rain, and I fertilize every 2–3 weeks with a liquid organic food.
Keep an eye out for slugs, which are always a problem in my vegetable garden, and also for issues like powdery mildew, which can be a problem when the weather is warm and humid. Another common issue is pea root rot, a fungal disease where the plants yellow and wither from the ground up. To prevent this, crop rotation is your best bet. Be sure to rotate crops for 3–4 years if fungal root rot has been a problem in your garden.
Succession Plant
I mean, really, can you ever have enough 'Sugar Snap' peas?
Harvesting Snap Peas
My 'Super Sugar Snap' peas are ready to harvest. How can you tell that they're ready to pick? Well, if you look at the pods, not only have they formed and reached a good size, they're starting to plump up a little bit, which means they're super crisp and very delicious. So I think I need to fill my basket.
When picking peas, don't just yank the pods from the plant. Instead, use two hands. You can use one to hold the vine and the other to snap the pea off the plant. That way you won't damage the vines or the peas.
These are edible pod peas, so you eat the entire pod as well as the immature peas inside.
Snap pea plants will produce more flowers and pods for several weeks, so it's important to stay on top of the harvest. I try to pick peas every day or two. If the pods are left to mature on the plants, production will decline, and you won't get as many new flowers or eventual pods.
Happy Gardening!