That's incomprehensible. I'd be inclined to find the price of pea transplants and ask them to reimburse you. Have you been round to ask for an explanation? And who owns the fence?

However, is it usual to plant peas in August in your area? Would you expect to get peas if they hadn't been cut down?

Your plants will probably survive but they have taken a massive hit and I wouldn't think they'd recover in time to produce.

Are you sure it wasn't a rabbit or woodchuck that ate your plants?

Flora, this is a perfect time for a second crop of peas in New York. Frosts don't come till September or October or later in most zones, and peas can take some frost.

But it may be too late for these eaten plants to recover unless the poster is in zone 6 or 7.

This post was edited by susanzone5 on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 20:38

It is their fence which is why I asked them first and they said sure go ahead. I finally had a chance to talk to one of them and she said she thought they were weeds! Liar! She saw my husband and I over there everyday checking on our little garden and training the peas on the fence. Plus, we spoke to them about the plants since planting them saying the peas were doing really good.,,,how I could never get them to grow on the other side of my house etc...Worst part is my 3 yr old helped plant them and was so excited, because he loves peas and the first crop in the spring didn't do well at all. (Way too shady, but we tried) Anyway, he was watching them grow too. When saw them he looked at me and said "what happened?" :( I think they changed their mind or didn't like how they looked or something. Either way I still think it was quite rude!!! They could at least told me...I could have tried to do stake or something. I don't know...I'm still really mad...I know I have to get over it and I will. They've grown a little and hopefully they'll be ok. So do think they'll recover in time or will the crop be ruined?

If your plants were about 2 feet tall, I assume they were planted in July? I've planted Fall peas here in August, and still got peas... your 6" plants are probably pretty close to that stage of development.

Peas can take a few frosts, so I would think your chances are still pretty good that you will get something, although a full crop is less likely. It depends on what type of peas you planted (snow, snap, or shell) and what the DTM was for the variety. Shell peas would generally take the most time to mature.

That's interesting about getting a late crop of peas. In my climate they would germinate but they would grow so slowly that they would be unlikely to crop, even though we often get no frost until late November. The overall temperatures are just too cool and there is insufficient sun to get them going fast enough.

Next year maybe put pea sticks in front of the fence to avoid the unreasonable neighbours' wrath.

Obviously, I'm a very novice gardener, but I read that you could get a second crop in this area and we had a really cool July (low 70's) so we gave it a try. We had so much trouble this year with our garden. We got squash borers and they seemed to take out our zucchini plants over night. That was really sad, because they were really huge and healthy and started dying just when it was time to harvest. We only got 2 zucchini out of 3 plants. I had never heard of squash borers before and I read they rarely attack cucumbers...I guess we're special because they got all of those and our cantaloupe too! I don't know if we're going to have a garden again next year. All that work starting them indoors, transplanting, caring for them for months just to lose them...it's been very frustrating! My neighbor was just the icing on the cake, ya know?

I would be tempted to plant something thorny next to the fence, like roses, then have a bed in front of them with the peas or some beans on a free-standing trellis. I know how you feel, I have voles, moles, rabbits, deer, and birds interfering with my vegetable and fruit production. Not so many insects. Deer got into my squash plants last year and ate the blooming plants to the ground. But this year I'm having a good squash year, no borers seem to live here. So it's worth it to me, even with the struggle. I hope you can find some crops worth growing for you. Have you tried greens and turnips? If I plant them by July 15 here they can make it through the winter and give me early spring greens, and Italian turnips have grown to 3 lbs. for me. They also can do well in part shade.

How wide an area do you have (or can you have)on your side of the fence ?
You can install posts(metal or wooden) alongside the neighbor's fence, JUST ABOUT 6" AWAY. (say one post every 10 ft.
Now install some plastic netting(w/ 2" x 3" opening, or similar). They are very reasonably priced and easy to install.
Voila, now you have your own trellis. It will have some initial cost and labor but you can use it for years, to grow, peas, beans, cucumbers, even tomatoes next to it. And enjoy the sun. DON'T GET MAD, GET EVEN.

I had squash borers the last two years. Please don't give up! Whatever you can grow will be better than the chemically sprayed veggies in the store. There are varieties that are squash borer resitant.

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This post was edited by susanzone5 on Sat, Sep 28, 13 at 9:56

I'm curious as to the outcome, given the similarity to my own late planting this year.

The peas I planted over the July 4th weekend have begun to produce; picked some "Sugar Lace" snap peas today, and the "Green Arrow" shelling peas are not far behind. Still no sign of frost in the forecast, I could probably have planted them August 1st this year & still had a harvest... maybe even a better one, since I lost many of the sugar snaps to the heat.

When I first read this, I thought you were leaving us with a cliff hanger, wondering if the neighbors would live for doing such a thing! ROFL! I've had critters munch on pea vines and they, the vines, have come back.
Hope its a happy ending!