I would tend to agree that in most cases, peas are not cost effective as transplants... the yield per plant is just too low. Some of the longer-vined peas might be the exception, such as the taller snap peas. I occasionally use transplants if I am growing a seed crop from old seed, since I can use protocols for germinating weak seed in sterile media.

While I never pre-sprout peas, I have to admit that there have been quite a few posters who use that technique successfully.

As Farmerdill mentioned, peas can be planted densely, especially those with shorter vines. The afila peas (those with huge clusters of tendrils in place of leaves) are well suited to dense wide row planting; the tendrils interlock, and the plants hold each other up.

It was 50 F. degrees today, first time in the 50's since early November. I feel a bout of planting fever coming on... ;-)

I do grow the taller Sugar Snap peas and I've added the 3-4ft Oregon Giant Snow peas. I wanted a taller snow pea, but I didn't find one. I did see a tall yellow snow pea at Johnny's but I passed.

I assume you save a little bit of time in waiting for germination in the ground by pre sprouting?

Hadn't heard of Aflia peas, I'll look for them. Thanks

Nice to finally see some warmer weather, for sure!

The most common afila peas are Novella, or Novella II. I grow Mesa, which is another afila shelling pea. Sugar Lace is an afila sugar snap, which has short vines that do not require support... it does very well planted late for Fall harvest. It is still PVP though, so seeds can't be shared. :-(

If you want to grow an interesting climbing snap pea, Sugar Magnolia is worth trying. It is sold by Peace Seeds.

Zeedman - Thanks for the links. I like anything purple. :-) Peace Seeds is an interesting company. Love what they're doing - 'dehybridizing'. I'll have to give their seed a try.

When I lived in MA in the 60s the old tradition was to plant peas on Patriots Day ( a holiday unique to MA) and, I was told, eat them on the July 4th.

Laceyvail - Have you been in West Virginia since the 60s? Is your gardening season a lot longer?

I just checked and Patriot's Day is April 20th. I'm wondering if we have warmed up some since the 60s? Not just in planting earlier, but in how soon we get 80 and 90 degree temperatures that the peas wouldn't appreciate.

I will be measuring the soil temperature as soon as the snow is off the beds and it will be interesting to see what date the soil is the right temperature for planting peas.

I'll try to post back here, what date I eventually am able to sow pea seed.

I've been in WV since the early 70s, so yes, I expect you have warmed up some. Our frost free days are about the same as yours; when I first moved here we were a solid zone 5. Now we're 6A but some years almost a 7. Our springs have always been up and down, up and down. But last year was a classic. On April 15 the temperature dropped into the upper teens. It was catastrophic, especially for the ornamental garden. (I've never before seen Epimedium bloom wiped out by a cold snap. And some shrubs were really damaged.) Even the peas, tough as they are, were burnt. They did recover, but I don't think quite bore as they should have.

Coldest winter in my life time her this year. Set a couple of single day records. As for afila peas Novellas have done poorly for me, but Survivor has been an excellent performer. Strictly a shelling pea tho.

Laceyvail - I forget that zone 6 goes that far South. I always think of West Virginia as 'south' so much warmer than we are. Interesting. That's awful about all the damage you had last year. I've never seen epimedium bloom wiped out either. We've had some cold snaps and lows, but maybe not that low. We've spent a couple of springs making mad dashes around the garden covering as much as we could. I do try to purchase plants that are hardy to at least one zone colder than we are. Most of the time, any way. I hope this spring will be uneventful.

Farmerdill - I'm not surprised that you have set records. We've set a number of records this year too and every time I'm looking at the weather map on the news, I see that the rest of the country doesn't seem to be fairing much better. I hope that means we are due a really wonderful growing season this year. :-)

ah, I dont understand why I cant just poke a hole with say a chopstick in my raised beds and put in a pea....course dirt is wet from the 15 inch of melting snow and now the rain all day. would they really rot?

well if they would... would they have rotted if say got them in before the rain today..... Just seemlike with the constant wetness they would just germinate.. Just doesnt make since to me...

Rodney - I didn’t mean to skip over you. It’s good to know I am not the only one who misses the St Patrick’s Day sowing every year. Thanks for that link to pre sprouting peas. I see one step I've been skipping that will probably make all the difference. :-)

Not a problem.

Rodney

Jeanwedding. Pea seed like the majority of vegetable seeds need air to grow. In soggy conditions they drown because the water does not let air penetrate the soil. Early spring is bad because the plant bed is much slower to dry. That said no reason you can't poke a hole and drop in your peas. Snap peas have decent yield per plant so you would not need too many and would probably be worth the effort. I would not consider that technique for shelling peas tho.

PrairieMoon- It's just too snowy in our area still to plant the peas. I want to spend my tax return on a growing light for tomato and peppers plants so I can scratch my gardening itch.

I agree with Dave, rake the snow off a bed and let the area dry out a little. Go for the planting once you're sure it won't get too cold at night.

Persimmons - You must have even more snow than I do. I'm north of Boston. Every time I heard the weather forecast this winter, whatever I was expecting, South Shore and the Cape were getting more. What a winter.

Sounds like, buying a light setup to start seeds, is a great use for a tax refund.

Went ahead and poked hole in the raised beds and planted I believe 30 or so..."Green Arrow" .The pkg. said it was a shelling pea.....they were just 25 cents a package.

Also have some "Little miss Marvel" and someedible pod sugar snap....which lady from local nursery, wrote on bag,..".a pole pea.".. so are all snap peas pole peas?

Back in 2011 and so forth there, planted "Alaska" variety.... Im not sure what type they were.... the rest of that big pack after several years wouldn't germinate.I dont wanna send for sea will just buy locally

thanks yall

Well, I will soon learn my lesson about transplanting. I transplanted 8 pea seedlings on one side of the trellis and I seeded 8 on the other side. We will see which batch prevails. I planted 8 snow pea transplants about a month ago and they did fine but I didn't have any other plants to compare them to.

Jeff - I enjoy experiments. I look forward to hearing how it works out.

With such unreliable weather every season in the NEast, i don't gamble much. I do a little bit of everything....i soak 12-24 hours, if i think of it, and can work the soil the day before...(when snow is near gone)...and i plant thick and plant once a week for 3-4 weeks in succession. The only way i can guarantee a stellar crop. I just poke in another row behind the first row and then another.

Last year it was the second weekend that we tapped our maple trees. Last year sap was later than usual. April 2nd-ish. Once the maple water is flowing, we spin our focus to the garden...

I do have raised beds that helps with the spring thaw. Cleaned up and put to bed and covered in the fall with black mat so they warm up nice...and never trampled, so rarely muddy.

I'd plant sugar snaps if i only had 2ft. It is one of the first few garden joys to go in and one of the first to harvest in our area.

SDog - Interesting approach. I have raised beds too. I didn't think of adding black mat in the fall. Our beds are cleaned up and covered with chopped leaves and grass clippings and should be ready to go. But if you have a black mat over the bed, doesn't it prevent rain or snow from penetrating and keeps the bed dry?

So, as soon as the soil has thawed you start sowing, and every week you add another row of seed, with the idea that in case the first sowing doesn't work, the next one will? So the last sowing you do is usually on what date, the end of April or are you into May by then?

In the past, when you have sowed this way, have you noticed which sowing has actually germinated?

KROSAGRO - That is a nice long season for peas, lucky. :-) Good suggestion for the cloches.

Okay, so the snow is lower in the backyard and some bare spots. A few raised veggie beds have a small corner free of snow. So I managed to get out to them today and tried to stick a soil thermometer in the corner where it has been bare the longest. lol That was funny. Still ice. I did get it to penetrate close to the wood a little bit, and it registered as 10 degrees. [g]

So I guess it's going to be awhile before I get any peas in the ground.

I know some of you have suggested shoveling off the rest of the snow, and I wondered if I would be depriving the beds of all that moisture as the snow melts? Now that I see it is still icy, it would seem there is plenty of moisture that has frozen. Maybe I will shovel off the rest of the snow. And put some black plastic over the bed.

Unfortunately, we are heading into another cold spell with winter temperatures returning and more snow in the forecast. So maybe I might just as well wait until there's no more below freezing temps and snow in the forecast, to bother.

so which variety name of sugar snaps do you all plant??? names?

I'm using Sugar Ann and Sugar Snap this year. I'm also sowing snow peas and that variety this year is Oregon Sugar Pod II.

jeanwedding- I'll be planting Amish Snap, Sugar Snap, and Sugar Daddy for snap peas. Dwarf Grey Sugar for a snow pea. And I'm debating on whether I should just use up the rest of the Little Marvel seed, which is a shelling pea, that I have left.

Rodney

This year I planted my peas (Piccolo Provençale) with Favas on Thanksgiving day 2014. We had just moved and I quickly prepared some new beds, it was not an ideal situation. However, both were about one inch out of the ground in late January. All plants made it through the snow and ice here in middle TN. I didn't think they stood a chance, but they are thriving. Thinking I will try Rapini in the same manner next year. As far as sowing seeds in the cold soil we have now, I am not sure. I know I am waiting on all other transplants until mid April. The cold just won't stay away yet.

Finally, sowed pea seeds today! And it actually was the first opportunity I've had to do it. Last week the bed was still frozen and I couldn't put the soil thermometer in more than 1/3 of the way and it registered 40 degrees. So we put black plastic weighed down with rocks over the area I wanted to sow them. I had a second bed where I also planned to sow them and I left that without black plastic just to see if it would make a difference. Sure enough, the bed with the black plastic allowed a trowel to go down almost the whole way, while the bed without the black plastic was still frozen except for the top inch or so.

Of course, they are forecasting day time temperatures in the 30s in the next week, but I think better to get them in with cold weather due, than hot.

With about 65 years of planting peas behind me, I guess I have tried about every method/timing/fad/varietyTemperature/moon phase/etc. My conclusion:

1. Use an innoculant

2. Plant when the soil is not mud

3. Wait until the soil temp is between 50-60 degrees f.

4. Trench plant with seeds a couple of inches or so apart.

5. Support as needed.

6. As always, mulch.

I have had neighbors plow off snow to plant by certain dates, holiday, moon phases, etc, and they never have had more success than my simple rules have yielded. Agree with digdirt2 formerly known as dig dirt.

To persimmon: I am on shore of Buzzards Bay in SE MA. Don,t spend a lot of. Money on grow lights. Been through that. Cheap shop lights works equally well.....Honest!

Aloha 10 formerly known as Sconticut

Thanks very much Aloha, 65 years is a lot of experience! :-)

I wonder do you soak your pea seed?

Johnny's says to load up the pea seeds, planted at 1 to 1 1 / 2" spacing in a wide row, which I did, and it says not to thin them. This seems like it will be extremely dense. Is this good advice, to those of you who have been growing peas a long time? They are sugar snap peas.

prairie...just saw your questions. I had a few years of low yield because of the differences in weather year-to-year. So succession planting seems to work...better chance of healthy germination. We had some snow flurries yesterday so no planting yet. Just now tapping our maple trees.

The matts actually help keep our beds from becoming muddy with the snow thaw. Plenty of water with the spring rains. Might be planting peas next weekend. I do plant thick.

To Peter: I have tried soaking and have not noted any difference in resuLts. Yet I know of others who report better results . Give both approaches a try in your garden with your unique loco climate and all it's special features, observe results and draw a conclusion. I do find inoculating gives higher yields.

Prairiemoon2. As usual, Johnny,s hands out some pretty good advice. Trench, 1 to 2 inches apart, and I do support even the shorter varieties wit pea brush or bamboo sticks which look quaint and exotic even if the don,t support very we'll. One must consider the aesthetics mustn't one.

I M 85 yrs. old and we started growing during the depression when I was about 8 Yrs old. We grew lots of wax beans because the local cannery bought all we could grow. We also grew all of our root crops and had a big raspberry patch. I hated farming but came to like gardening. There is a huge difference.

Aloha10 formerly know as sconticut.

Johnny's says 25 seeds per foot.. which is basically 1 to 2 inches apart in 3 rows. I guess they really don't care at all about being tightly crammed.

Sleevendog - Good idea - I’ll keep planting more seed. My initial sowing was one row, back and front of our trellis, with seeds about 2 inches apart, so I can add another row next weekend. Some of our vegetable beds are still frozen. A challenging year for spring crops.

Aloha - I forgot to soak when I sowed last week, but you’re right, experimenting would be helping. Next sowing, I’ll try soaking half of them. I will try the inoculation too. I don’t always do that.

You’re 85 yrs old?!! So happy to know that you are still gardening! :-) You make a good point, I can see where farming and gardening are very different. I find it interesting that having started out hating farming, that you still managed to get back to gardening and enjoy it.

Peter - Thanks for updating about the full planting instructions that Johnny’s suggests.

This is specifically what they say... considering their small seed pack is 250 seeds I think they are serious.

Plant the first sowing in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. In well-drained soil, sow 1-1 1/2" apart in a 3" band (25 seeds/ft.), 1/2-1" deep. Do not thin.

Peter - The way Johnny's describes is the way I've planted them for at least the last 20 years and they grow just fine. I've done it this way in raised beds and in my current standard garden beds, and they are dense, but if I shake the fence a bit, the movement of the pods makes them easy to find and pick. Having a fence is essential with this type of planting, however. The one year I was too late putting in the fence it was a tangled mess, so now I just put in the fence when I plant. Because my soil is always cold when I plant the first of two plantings, I always soak them and wait for them to start root growth before planting out the bands of peas. My bands range from 3-5" with peas every 1-2" within that.

Yes I will give them a 6' wire mesh fence/trellis to climb. I will put it in next weekend hopefully just as they are sprouting.

I think aloha10's advice is spot on. Every time I have tried to plant peas before the soil temperature got up to 50-60, they just sat there and sulked. I see no advantage to starting them super early, though, as with everything else in life, YMMV.

I planted mine a week and a half ago and still no sprouts yet. I don't know the soil temps but probably in the 50s.

Updated on my "experiment"/ The peas I direct sowed have caught up or surpassed the peas I started indoors 10 days prior.

Almost 2 weeks still no sign of my peas. We've had a cold snap for the past few days and I doubt the soil is much above 50..

I guess it's almost been two weeks since we planted pea seeds and nothing so far. Going to sow more this weekend. Looks like we are finally getting a warming trend. It's been really cold and raw here too.

On a similar note, Johnny's also says to load up and not thin beets. There are a plethora of sources on the internet saying you need to thin beets for good sized roots..... any opinions on this one?

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5522-red-ace.aspx

Current state of the pea patch. The overwintered Willet Wonders really got a jump start on the Sabre and Green Arrow. Not usually

this much difference, but winter hung around late this year. On the beet question, Unless you just want greens, they need to be several inches apart, whether you precision plant or thin.

Farmerdill - when did you plant your various pea plants. I tried overwintering some peas (can't remember the variety right now) and they took a beating with the 3 or so freezes we had with temps in the teens.

I plant the smooth seeded Willet Wonders around Thanksgiving. Alaska does ok but a bit more unruly than WW. Wrinkle seeded peas are iffy to overwinter ( probably would not have handled this past winter) so I normally plant those around the first of February. This year winter hung on so they were later to emerge than usual.

Looks very nice! Mine still haven't germinated.. 2 weeks now :(

I replanted my peas this spring.
I planted these on 3/9. Much later than I would have liked due to the cold
winter. I am not sure I will get much production before the
hot weather hits. The freeze we had on 3/28 shriveled leaves on
some of the varieties I planted. The Alaska were not affected at all but
every other variety had a little damage. On the left are the Alaska, middle is Wando, and on the right is Little Marvel.

IME, the tricky part about starting any peas or brassicas indoors is that they are much less frost-tolerant than direct-seeded plants. Kale, one of the hardiest crops, will get zinged by even a light frost if you start it indoors and put it outside. Hardening off against wind and sun does not entirely help. You need to harden them to cold by exposing them to several cool nights (35 to 40 degrees F) in a row. Just something to think about for next year if you decide to go with transplants.

The peas have started sprouting! Not like crazy, but I have a few sprouts peeking out. I got the trellis up today.

I put my brassicas I transplanted under cover at night. I also put out my artichokes, and have them under cover also. Got a lot going now! Garlic, Leeks, Onions, Peas, Broccoli, Cabbage, Potatoes, Beets and Lettuce all sown or transplanted.