Sugar or Snow Peas
Pisum sativum var. saccharatum. FABACEAE.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Sugar or Snow Peas
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow sugar or snow peas in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many sugar or snow peas to plant
- Growing conditions for sugar or snow peas
- When to plant sugar or snow peas
- How to plant sugar or snow peas
- Watering, fertilizing, and caring for sugar or snow peas
- Companion plantings for sugar or snow peas
- How to harvest, store, and use sugar or snow peas
Growing Sugar or Snow Peas
Sugar and snow peas are cool-season vegetables of the legume family. Vining and bushy plants, 2–6 ft. (60–180 cm) tall, bear flat green pods, to 3 in. (75 mm) long, with 4–10 tiny, immature, green peas.
Both varieites are cultivars of garden peas genetically selected for tender sweetness and for eating their pods whole before seed begin to form. They are principal ingredients found in many Asian stir-fried dishes as well as popular salad vegetables.
Grow separate pea varieties for edible peas rather than pods [see: Garden, English Peas, or Snap Peas].
Sugar or Snow Pea Plant Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 30 plants per household member.
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 6–10 days.
Average Climates: Sow seed peas or transplant seedlings in full sun in early spring–summer when soil warms to 40–70°F (4–21°C).
Mild-Winter Climates: Sow seeds in autumn, after heat has broken and 3–4 months of warm weather remains.
Autumn-Winter Gardens: Sow seed in July for harvest in Autumn, or sow cold-hardy varieties of peas as seed in September–October for harvest in Spring.
Sow 2 seeds, 2 in. (50 mm) deep, 2–3 in. (50–75 mm) apart, in an alternating diagonal pattern, thinning to 4 in. (10 cm) apart, in rows 3–4 ft. (90–120 cm) apart, installing support stakes and strings 2 ft. (60 cm) tall, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart, at time of planting.
Plant successions every 2–3 weeks.
Best Conditions for Growth
50–75°F (10–24°C). Best in spring before soil warms to 80°F (27°C) and in autumn. Shade plants at temperatures over 80°F (27°C).
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich. 5.5–6.8 pH. Prepare soil at least 18 in. (45 cm) deep. Rotate plantings with cole-family vegetables in alternating years.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly moist; avoid wetting foliage and withhold water when flowers appear. Fertilize only at planting with 5–10–10 formula. Mulch. Cultivate. Aphid and powdery mildew susceptible.
Autumn–Winter Gardens: Protect cold-hardy varieties of peas from hard frosts or freezes beginning in October.
Pairing Recommendations
Beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, radishes, and turnips.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
55–70 days. Pick pods when 1-1/2–2-1/2-in. (38–63-mm) long and peas are visible within the pods. Harvest frequently to extend development of new flowers and pods.
How to Store and Preserve
Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator for 1–2 weeks; blanched, chilled, and frozen, 3 months.