Farmers Weekly Review

Each season has its signature vegetables. I can’t think of summer without almost tasting a just-picked tomato or that smell of cucumbers. For me, peas and asparagus are the home-grown crops of spring.

And for peas, spring is truly their only season, as when the weather warms, pea plants start to yellow and fade, much to the dismay of many home gardeners. But that is exactly what they are supposed to do. Peas are part of the spring or cool season crops that also include leafy greens, radishes, green onions (scallions), broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and beets.

Many of these other cool-season vegetables can grow on into summer, but peas have a short season. So why grow them? Why give up some of that precious garden real estate to plants that won’t last thru July? Because they are delicious, healthy and, unlike many other vegetables, freeze incredibly well, so you can enjoy that burst of spring flavor all year long.

And when it comes to using space in the garden, they are a perfect swap out. As temperatures soar and then start to decline, you can make a little room to plant those warm season veggies like tomatoes and peppers. The last few weeks of the pea season afford those newly planted tomatoes and peppers seedlings a little shade to give them a chance to harden off a little more in the garden.

So which pea is which? And which is the best choice for your garden? Shelling peas, also known as English peas, are the most planted pea in the American home garden. Occasionally, garden peas are called sweet peas because of their flavor, but I always emphasize to people to avoid using this name for our edible pea because the flower, the sweet pea, is actually poisonous.

Garden peas are the peas that develop fully into a plump cylindrical pod before harvest. The peas are then removed from the pod, or shelled, and the pod is discarded. Like all peas, they can be eaten raw or cooked and freeze incredibly well. These are the peas that we see canned or frozen at the grocery store..

Snow peas are just the opposite of garden peas. They are flat pea pods that are harvested before the pea inside ever fully develops. The entire pod is harvested and eaten just as is. Some snow pea varieties (especially the older ones) have a tough fiber “string” that needs to be removed before eating. Look for the newer varieties that say “stringless.” Snow peas are the pea pods you often see in stir fry recipes.

Then there are sugar snap peas. My favorite. These plump, edible pod peas are sweet, crunchy and delicious. Sugar snap peas are a cross between the garden pea and the snow pea. Like snow peas, they can have that tough string, but look for the newer stringless varieties.

One of the reasons sugar snap peas are my favorite is their ability to get children to try a new vegetable. In one of our youth gardening programs, I had a young man who proclaimed proudly that he would never eat vegetables. He would help garden and was very curious about the different plants we had, but still unwilling to try.

When the sugar snap pea harvest was coming in, all of the other kids tried them and enthusiastically talked about how surprised they were so sweet. Now this is the good kind of peer pressure!

As far as growing, all peas have the same culture. They like to be planted in fertile, well-drained cool soil (soil temperature at 45 degrees). All peas are vining with many of the older types being tall vines, there are some that are called bush but still may require some support. Follow the seed pack instructions as far as planting depth and spacing.

When it comes to pea trellises, my favorite is an upcycle of sorts. Gardeners call them “pea bushes.” Instead of dealing with the twine or wooden/metal trellis, I use shrub branches that I have cut and just stick them in when planting. The peas grow up these discarded stems and when pea season is over, you just pull up the whole “pea bush” branches and all, and head for the compost bin.

Pea plants can survive light frosts, and if Mother Nature gives us “real” spring weather, cloudy, with regular rains, you may find you don’t have to water your peas much. But keeping soil moisture even (and weeds down) is ideal so a layer of some type of mulch is a great practice. This also helps prevent soil splash when we have those driving spring rains. For all vegetables. it is advisable to avoid soil splash to deter disease problems.

Harvest peas as soon as they seem full size. Taste testing daily is a good idea because the sweetest, most tender peas are those picked at the peak of flavor. Leaving peas on the vine too long makes them have a less sweet and starchier flavor. For the edible podded peas, the pod also becomes tougher if left on the vine too long.

Another bonus of picking as soon as the peas are ready follows the golden rule of many vegetables. The more you pick the more they produce. If using fresh, harvest as close to use as possible.

Besides fresh peas, pea plants also offer a new trendy option-pea shoots. The tender young shoots of garden peas are edible. Cut a 6-inch section of the pea vine. The edible podded varieties produce the sweetest shoots. Pea shoots can be used fresh, steamed or in stir fries.