Planting Peas on St. Patrick’s Day -
Many gardeners look at the holidays as a guide for planting. St. Patrick's Day is the traditional
time for sowing green peas.
Peas are not difficult to grow. The earlier they mature, the sweeter they’ll
be. Peas should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked. In some areas, you might
have to drill holes in the soil to plant peas on St. Pat’s! Sow them right under the snow, if
necessary, but save some for a later planting as well.
Peas should be quickly steamed or eaten raw. They turn to starch several hours after picking,
which is why peas that you buy are often sadly lacking in flavor. We enjoy our peas the way
they taste best, right from the shell, and we savor them all season long!
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Peas are not difficult to grow. Once they come up, they exhibit terrific growth spurts and can
make a lovely wall of green through the garden. Here are some tried-and-true tips to plant,
grow, and pick peas.
Tricks for Early Peas
* To get the best head start, turn over your pea planting beds in the fall, add manure to
the soil, and mulch well.
* When you're ready to plant in the early spring, pull back the mulch and make holes with
a dibble, if necessary, to get your seeds into the ground. Add more seeds later if you
discover spaces where some don't germinate.
* A blanket of snow won't hurt emerging pea plants, but several days with temperatures
in the teens could. Be prepared to plant again.
Pea Planting
* The late Jim Crockett was fond of saying, "If you are stingy with your peas, they'll be
stingy with you." Plant your peas thickly in wide rows, so that they can climb up
both sides of a fence.
* Use a hoe to scrape a trench about two inches deep, and sprinkle in the pea seeds, leaving
about an inch between them.
* Cover with soil and tamp down with the hoe or (gently) with your foot.
* If you are planting a new garden, make the trench three inches deep, add a one-inch layer
of well-rotted manure, cover with soil, and then plant the pea seeds.
* Water well if the weather is dry. Poke in any seeds that wash out. (A chopstick is an ideal
tool for this.)
* Peas do need a fence or trellis for support. Wait for peas to come up before putting up your
fence. Don't construct a permanent structure.
Pea Growing
* Peas germinate in soil that is between 40° and 85°F, preferring about 75°, and they like
at least two months of weather with daily temperatures below 70°.
* In the North, spring plantings have a better chance for survival than fall plantings do;
vines resist frost better than pods do, and spring rains usually provide the moisture
peas need.
* Though adding compost or manure to the soil won't hurt, peas don't need heavy doses of
fertilizer. They like phosphorus and potassium and appreciate a good sprinkling of
wood ashes before planting.
* Water your pea crop if the weather is especially dry when their flowers develop and also
during pod-forming and picking. If peas dry out, they will stop forming new pods.
Pea Picking
* Keep your peas well picked to encourage more pods to develop.
* Always use two hands when you pick peas. Secure the vine with one hand and pull
the peas off with your other hand.
* Collect peas in a container with a wide top and a flat bottom to prevent spilling; a
bushel basket or a brown paper grocery bag works.
Testing for ripeness . . .
Pick when plump but before the pods wrinkle on the stem and take on a dull whitish cast.
