Growing Peas
Peas are a popular plant in the home garden, and it worth knowing how to grow peas for a number of reasons, firstly freshly picked peas are simply wonderful, tender and sweet. Secondly they are a winter growing plant that can be used in the vegetable garden as a rotational crop that will fix nitrogen back into the soil.
And we have varieties including climbing peas, snow peas and dwarf peas all have their place.
When to plant.
As a rotational crop they are wonderful to plant after tomatoes, and in cool to temperate areas of Australia as the tomatoes finish it just happens to be the right time to plant peas. So we are looking at autumn in these areas.
Where to plant
This will depend on the type of peas you are growing, climbing peas and snow peaswill need a trellis, the dwarf type will not. And yes you can grow them in containers, the taller types will need support.
Easy Steps
- Dig over the soil well and spread a little blood and bone and a little lime through as well.
- If the soil lack humus, dig in some well rotted compost, we like to do this 3 weeks before planting
- Peas are best sown directly, at around 3cm deep
- Water in well with a liquid seaweed fertiliser and unless the soil begins to dry do not water again as really damp conditions can cause the seeds to rot.
Harvesting
We like the ‘continual harvest’, as soon as they are big enough, pick them and eat them the same day. You can leave some on the plant and collect the seeds once the plants have died back for next year.
After harvest
Generally we dig the plants up while they are still a little green, crop them up with the spade and then dig them back into the soil. Or put them in the compost bin