Garden Pea

Garden peas are one of the first things in the ground each year, sown outdoors weeks before the last frost into cold soil that other vegetables would refuse. They are a cool-season crop that stops producing once summer heat arrives, so early sowing is everything. Shelling peas are picked when the pods are plump; snap and snow peas are eaten pod and all. The nitrogen-fixing roots leave the bed better than they found it, which makes peas the natural first crop before hungry summer vegetables.

Direct sow an inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart as soon as the soil can be worked, four to six weeks before last frost; peas germinate at 40°F. Sow every two weeks for a month to stretch the harvest, and again in late summer for a fall crop in most zones. Give the climbing types netting or brush to climb from the start; even the dwarf types do better with twigs. Keep the soil moist from flowering on, and do not feed nitrogen.

Pick regularly, every other day in full season; a pod left on the vine signals the plant to stop. Shelling peas lose their sugar within hours of picking, so cook them the same day. Birds take sprouting seed, so cover the row until it is up. Powdery mildew ends the spring crop; pull the vines and plant something else. Deer and rabbits graze peas.