Preparing and Planting the Season's First Peas
Everybody is thinking about the spring gardens, including all of us here at my Bedford, New York farm. The season’s first peas are already in the ground.
Peas thrive in cool weather, and young plants can even tolerate light frosts. It’s important to plant peas as soon as possible in spring in order to get a full harvest before hot summer temperatures arrive. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted four varieties of peas in the vegetable garden. He will continue to plant other varieties as the weeks progress. I am a big fan of succession planting so this planting will be followed by another in a couple of weeks in order to maximize the garden's yield.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- Ryan prepares the peas for planting in the head house, just off my main greenhhouse. Snow, snap, and shelling peas are all members of the legume family. Snow peas are also known as Chinese pea pods. They are flat with very small peas inside, and the whole pod is edible. Snap peas are a cross between snow peas and shelling peas – the whole pod is eaten and has a crunchy texture and very sweet flavor. Shelling peas are also sometimes called garden peas, sweet peas or English peas. The pods are firm and rounded, and the round peas inside need to be removed, or shelled, before eating.
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- All the peas benefit from soaking before planting. Each variety is placed in its own container and covered with water. Only soak seeds for about eight to 12-hours and no more than 24-hours. Over-soaking them could cause them to decompose.
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- Some of the peas will look wrinkled. Most of them have hard coats. The pea is among the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world. Peas were found in excavations in Switzerland dating back to the Bronze Age. Peas were also very popular foods with the ancient Greeks and Romans.
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- Some of this season’s peas are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, a source I have used for many years. Johnny’s Selected seeds is a privately held, employee-owned organic seed producer in Winslow, Maine. Johnny’s offers hundreds of varieties of organic vegetable, herb, flower, fruit and farm seeds, along with all sorts of gardening supplies and accessories.
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- ‘Bistro’ peas are tasty and productive. The plants have an upright habit and long 24-inch vines which make it easier for harvesting. (Photo courtesy of Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
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- ‘Honey Snap’ peas are gorgeous golden yellow snap peas. This variety was developed by Rod Lamborn, the son of Calvin Lamborn, the father of the snap pea and breeder of the classic ‘Sugar Snap.’ The pods average about three-inches long and the vines grow up to 30-inches long. (Photo courtesy of Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
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- These are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Mansfield, Missouri. ‘Lillian’s Caseload’ and ‘Sugar Daddy’ are both both productive and intensely flavorful.
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- Once they’ve soaked long enough, Ryan thoroughly drains each container.
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- Ryan also removes any broken seeds or seed fragments. Always discard any that have floated to the top of the water – these are not viable and shouldn’t be planted.
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- The next step is to add a seed inoculant. Inoculants are formulated from natural, dry peat-based cultures of beneficial bacteria for treating legume seeds prior to planting.
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- Peas are known to help fix the nitrogen content in the soil, but need an inoculant added to do this. Garden inoculants are available at most garden supply stores. Ryan sprinkles a little inoculant powder onto the drained peas.
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- Once the inoculant has been added, Ryan lightly mixes the peas to make sure they are all well coated.
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- The inoculant will boost the pea plants. It is not possible to over inoculate, so don’t worry about how much is added to the peas.
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- This collection of peas may seem small, but in a couple of weeks, Ryan will plant another batch to keep the produce coming.
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- Then it’s down to the vegetable garden to plant the first seeds. Ryan starts by digging a shallow furrow in the soil using a hoe.
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- Ryan writes out the type of peas on large white markers – also available through Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
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- And then places the appropriate markers along the row to identify snap and shelling peas along with their varieties.
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- Ryan drops the seeds into the furrow about one to two-inches apart.
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- Here one can see the seeds well-placed in the furrow. Sow pea seeds four to six weeks before the last spring frost, when soil temperatures reach 45-degrees Fahrenheit.
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- Once all the seeds are in the ground, Ryan covers them with an inch-and-a-half of soil and then tamps gently, so there is good contact between the soil and the seeds.
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- The peas will be watered deeply once a week and should be ready to pick around mid-June to early July.
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