Garden Pea

**Sowing:** Garden peas are direct-sown in spring as soon as the soil can be worked, since seed germinates across a range of 40 to 85°F with fastest results near 75°F; seed is set roughly 1 to 3 inches deep and spaced 1.5 to 3 inches apart, with rows commonly 18 to 30 inches apart, in fertile, well-drained soil with a pH near 5.5 to 7.0 and full sun. Vining types need a trellis or stakes installed at sowing time, since inserting supports later can damage roots, and closer row spacing can be widened when trellising is used.

**Watering and feeding:** Plants should be kept evenly moist, at roughly an inch of water a week, applied to the soil rather than overhead to limit disease, though heavy watering during flowering can interfere with pod set. High-nitrogen fertilizer is avoided because it favors leafy growth over flowering and fruiting, and seed is often inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum where peas have not previously grown so that root nodules form and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Peas are also poor competitors with weeds, so shallow cultivation or mulch is used to control weeds without disturbing the roots, and the crop is rotated rather than replanted in the same ground in consecutive years to limit soilborne disease.

**Pests:** Aphids can colonize the foliage and spread disease, though they generally do not affect the pods themselves, and a hard stream of water can dislodge them. Cutworms sever young seedlings, and seedcorn maggot is encouraged by heavy manure or organic matter in the soil, so its presence is reduced by limiting such amendments.

**Diseases:** Powdery mildew develops in hot weather and can affect both leaves and pods, and it is limited by avoiding wetted foliage and spacing plants for airflow. Root rot and fusarium wilt are common ailments that cause roots and whole plants to wilt and die, while seed decay and seedling damping off occur when seed is planted too early into cold, wet soil; siting new plantings away from previously affected ground and improving drainage help avoid these problems.

**Harvest:** Garden peas are picked when the pods are swollen and rounded but before the seed inside has fully matured, with pods on the lower part of the plant ripening first; testing a few pods for readiness is recommended, and the whole plant can be pulled at the final harvest to make picking easier. Because quality declines rapidly once pods are picked, peas are best gathered immediately before cooking, freezing, or canning, and any pods stored briefly are kept in plastic bags in the refrigerator.

**Culinary:** Garden peas are grown for their edible seeds, harvested immature and eaten fresh, frozen, or canned, while mature dry seed is also sold whole, split, or ground for human consumption; the seed is notably high in protein, at roughly 15 to 35 percent, along with the amino acids lysine and tryptophan.

**Fodder:** Peas are grown alone or with cereals for silage and green fodder, and plants can also be grazed directly in the field.

**Soil improvement:** Because pea roots form nodules with Rhizobium leguminosarum that convert atmospheric nitrogen to a usable form, and the vines break down quickly, peas are grown as a green manure and cover crop, and are valued in crop rotations for breaking disease and pest cycles and improving soil structure.

Garden pea is native to Eurasia and was domesticated by Neolithic farmers in the Near East at least 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. From that origin it spread into cultivation across temperate regions worldwide, and it is now grown at high elevations or during cool seasons even in warmer climates.