Peas, my favourite garden snack!

by  Naturix 

Peas might just be my favourite garden snack!. I planted some sweet peas during the cooler season in our front yard, and kind of forgot about them. It is spring now and every time I leave the house or come home, I grab a handful of them to snack on while on the move.

I have always loved them, but they can be quite expensive in the shop. Not only are they expensive, but they never seem fresh and almost always go bad in the fridge. But growing my own seemed to be a great solution! I must admit I did try to grow them last season, although I had a few, it never seemed to thrive, but this year I have thriving sweet pea plants and could not be happier. I would like to share my sweet pea growing tips as well as do's and don'ts.

Garden Pea – Pisum sativum

So let's talk about sweet peas. It is a part of the legume family (Facbacea) which includes  beans, lentils and peanuts. Peas are wonderful plants because they’re useful both in the garden and for your health. Here’s a breakdown of their main benefits:

Garden benefits:

the best reason for planting peas in the garden is probably the fact that they are a great soil improver, meaning they fix nitrogen into the soil through special bacteria on their roots.This enriches the soil for future crops like corn, tomatoes or leafy greens, basically anything that produce crops above the ground and need an extra boost for their leaves.They are also great cool-season crops, meaning they grow best in spring and autumn, when other crops do not. Peas are also a low maintenance crop because they do not need any fertilizer since they make their own and therefore can be a great beginner friendly crop. Besides putting up a trellis at the beginning of the planting, you can plant them and forget about it. All these factors make them excellent cover crops in the transitioning of seasonal gardens. They also make excellent companion plants with carrots, radishes, turnips and cucumbers.

Disclaimer! All information provided in this post is the opinion of someone and not to be taken as medical advice, please seek  professional medical advice to make informed decisions. 

Health and Nutrition benefits:

Peas are very rich in nutrients as they are a good source of protein, fiber, vitamins (A,C,K,B-groups) and minerals like iron, magnesium and potassium. Since peas are a good source of proteins it is a great addition to people who live a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. The fiber in peas helps keep digestion healthy and prevent constipation. They are also low in calories and can be very filling making it a great addition to your diet when on a weight loss journey. If you struggle with cholesterol or blood pressure, peas also might be a great addition to your diet since the fiber and antioxidants might help lower your cholesterol and support a healthy blood pressure. Peas also have a low glycemic index meaning they do not spike blood sugar quickly, which might help people watching their blood sugar levels. 

What peas to grow:

So you have realized peas are a must in your garden and kitchen. The question now is what variety to grow. You get a variety of peas like snap peas, snow peas or shelling peas. All peas have a similar appearance of green vines with edible pods.The difference between the varieties are mainly the ability to eat the pod. Both snap peas and snow peas can be eaten as a whole whereas shelling peas are mainly grown for the peas inside and their pods are tough and inedible. Snow peas are flat and do not produce the classic round peas whereas snap peas is a mix of snow peas and shelling peas making them fat and juicy. Snap peas are also my favourite and the focus of this post, however all peas are grown similarly, so you can still follow along if you prefer shelling peas.

Growing peas:

Timing:

When it comes to planting peas, the timing is crucial. It is important to note that peas do not like hot weather since they are a cool loving crop. Depending on where you live the timing may differ. So the rule of thumb is to plant them as soon as the soil can be worked after winter. In some regions this can mean late winter and in other regions only in the early spring. Last season I planted them too early (in the beginning of the winter) which led to stunted growth. I live in a hotter region and thought they should be fine because we do not get snow during the winter, however we do get a lot of rain during the winter which leads to the soil being over-saturated. 

Location: 

Peas prefer full sunlight and can tolerate moderate shade. However this depends on your climatic zone. If you live near the equator and get very hot weather during spring already, I would recommend planting in a part of the property that gets shade part of the day so that they get at least 6 hours of sun. Last  season I planted in an area that got full sun all day, so when they finally started to grow they got scorched by the sun. Whereas this season they only get sun for about 7 hours of sun. If you have no shade a shade cloth can also help so that they get part sun the whole day. If you live in a colder climate you must do the opposite. Plant them in full sun and try to avoid shady parts of the garden. 

Soil:

Peas are simple! If they do not like saturated soil, this means they like well draining soil. Clay soil has the tendency to become saturated if too much water is applied through rain or irrigation. And sandy soils have the opposite problem as water drains too quickly. Luckily both these problems can be solved with one solution. Compost! Just add a bit of compost into the soil to help with drainage problems.

Fertilization:

Peas do not need any nitrogen since they fix their own. Peas therefore do not need any additional fertilization. The only thing you can add if you want to but is not necessary is to add phosphorus and potassium before planting and that can be found in bone meal and wood ash. These minerals would already be in the soil and are also slowly released by compost, however their availability to plants may not be possible. So it is recommended when preparing a new bed where nothing has been added to add bone meal or wood ash, but over the years as your soil becomes established with yearly compost deposits it is not necessary.

Watering:

Peas can be forgiving when it comes to water, however they do not like over saturated soil, like most plants. This leads to yellowing of leaves and stunted growth. Their needs for water also differ during the different growth stages. During germination and early growth soil should be moist but not soggy, so regular light watering is best. With established plants water deeply rather than often so that the roots grow downwards. During the flowering and pea formation it is back to less water more often. I know this sounds like high maintenance whereas previously stating peas are low maintenance. So to combat this, I like to observe the plants. At the beginning it is quite simple to keep soil moist, use a mulch like straw or wood chips to keep moisture from evaporating. Then during the growing stage just observe plants, if they look sad, water them. This also counts for when they are flowering. You are obviously excited to see your harvest, so by visiting the plant to look for your peas, you would be able to see if the plants need water or not. Observation is key!

Growing care:

Okay so you have all the basics, you know when to plant them, where to plant them, how to prepare your soil and get your watering schedule down. As previously stated, peas are vines and vines climb. To help keep the vines from running everywhere, some sort of trellis will be needed. This also helps keep it off the ground to help prevent disease and increase airflow and sunlight. There are a variety of different trellis that can be used like stings between two poles or bamboo tripods with strings or wire, however I have found that peas do very well against chicken wire, since they have fine and short tendrils that are quite dispersed. So with the chicken wire there is more space to grab onto, so you only have to guide the first tendrils and after that they would just grab and climb naturally. Whereas with the strings it tends to be more labor intensive since you need to help it more.

Growing peas has been such a rewarding experience for me, from planting the seeds to enjoying fresh handfuls straight from the garden. They’re simple, low-maintenance, and give so much back to both your soil and your kitchen. If you’ve never grown peas before, I really encourage you to give them a try this season. In an upcoming post I’ll be sharing tips on dealing with common pea pests, so stay tuned! Have you grown peas before, or do you have a favourite variety? I’d love to hear in the comments.

Thank you for reading!