Vegetable Grow Guides
How to Grow Organic Peas from Seed
Pisum sativum
About Peas
Garden peas (shelling, snap, and snow) are a cool-season crop. They are not black-eyed peas (cowpeas), which are a hot-weather crop. For organic gardens, use untreated seed — some conventional wrinkled-seed lots are fungicide-treated. Avoid sowing into cold, wet soil rather than coating seed.
When to Plant
Direct-sow 4–6 weeks before last frost, as soon as soil can be worked and is not waterlogged. A second sowing in late summer can work where fall is long and cool.
How to Plant
Sow 1–1.5 inches deep (not ½ inch, and not a full 2 inches for most varieties), 1–2 inches apart, rows 18–24 inches. Provide a trellis at sowing for tall types. Keep moist through flowering or you will get poor flowers and a disappointing crop. A light mulch helps.
When to Harvest
Pick snow peas when pods are flat, snaps when plump but still smooth, shelling peas when pods are full but green. Pick often. Plants fade in heat.