When to Plant Peas: Early Spring Planting for Sweet, Tender Harvests

"Plant peas as soon as the ground can be worked" is a popular gardening saying. Unfortunately, in my garden that means mid- to late-March!

When to plant peas? Wherever you live, as soon as you can stick your finger into rich, dark brown, crumbly soil, you're generally ready.

Soil temperature matters too. Two inches down it was 52°F. (I love my soil thermometer!)

Peas are my first outdoor seed crop, germinating in soil as cold as 40°F.

Early planting yields tender peas. With raised beds, I've never had them rot, even in wet years.

I was raised with "never plant before Memorial Day" so I always had terrible peas—sparse and tough. Then an old neighbor taught me to plant "as soon as the ground can be worked"—even if a foot of snow falls after planting (it usually does), they're fine.

"Poor man's fertilizer" is what my neighbor called snow. Some truth to this lore: falling snow absorbs atmospheric ammonia, which breaks down as sun melts snow, releasing nitric acid into soil. French peasants believed spring snowfall equaled manure. Colonial farmers plowed spring snow under.

Like all legumes, peas fix nitrogen from air with help from soil bacteria. Instead of fertilizing, moisten seeds and roll in powdered legume inoculant before planting to help these bacteria.

I soak seeds overnight to plump them for a germination head start.

Whatever variety—edible-podded or traditional English shelling—plant to mature before hot weather for sweet, tender peas. Once established, hill soil at plant bases or use thick mulch to keep roots cool and prolong harvest.

Needless to say, days after planting my peas, half an inch of "poor man's fertilizer" fell! Got your peas in yet?

~ By Robin Sweetser

About This Blog

Get inspired by Robin Sweetser's backyard gardening tips. Robin has been a contributor to The Old Farmer's Almanac and the All-Seasons Garden Guide for many years. She and her partner Tom have a small greenhouse business and also sell plants, cut flowers, and vegetables at their local Farmer's Market.