Jim’s Favorite Garden Vegetable Early Pea Seeds
Pea is a frost-hardy, cool-season vegetable that can
be grown throughout most of the United States, wherever a cool
season of sufficient duration exists. For gardening purposes,
peas may be classified as garden peas (English peas), snap peas
and snow peas (sugar peas). Garden pea varieties have smooth or
wrinkled seeds. The smooth-seeded varieties tend to have more
starch than the wrinkled-seeded varieties.
The wrinkled-seeded varieties are generally sweeter and usually
preferred for home use. The smooth-seeded types are used more
often to produce ripe seeds that are used like dry beans and to
make split-pea soup. Snap peas have been developed from garden
peas to have low-fiber pods that can be snapped and eaten along
with the immature peas inside. Snow peas are meant to be
harvested as flat, tender pods before the peas inside develop
at all. The Southern pea (cowpea) is an entirely different
warm-season vegetable that is planted and grown in the same
manner as beans.
Get peas in the ground while the soil is still cool, but beware of excessive moisture caused by snowmelt or spring rain, as you don’t want the seeds to sit in wet soil. It’s a delicate balance of proper timing and weather conditions. If your garden tends to stay too wet, consider investing in raised garden beds.
A blanket of snow will not hurt emerging pea plants, but several days with temperatures in the teens could. Be prepared to plant again if the first peas don’t make it. Alternatively, try starting your peas in a cold frame.
A second round of peas can be planted in the late summer or early fall, approximately 6–8 weeks before your first fall frost date.
TPF243 Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb is absolutely the best pea variety for container planting! Reaching only 8 to 9 inches in height, it’s grown mainly as a shelling type, but the pods are also sweet, tender and delicious when harvested very young.
This variety excels when tucked into small spaces around the garden, and for cold frame production very early or very late in the season. This unusual heirloom originated in England, was first introduced in the US by Landreth Seeds, Philadelphia, in 1854.
Even more frost tolerant than most other pea varieties, and, naturally, it requires no staking! 55 days.
5037 Little Marvel
62 days. A heavy yielder. Vines about 15 inches tall, sturdy, dark green with heavy foliage. The peas are dark green, round, tender, sweet and fine flavor. Unsurpassed by any others in its class. Space-saving semi-dwarf sets huge yields of 3-in. pods with 6-9 large, sweet peas. Good for freezing and canning.
1A335 Sugar Daddy
Snap, compact edible pod, ideal for patio pot, dwarf 24″ vine, stringless, thick flesh, double pods, easy picking, full season, 62 days.
TST148 Oregon Giant
Large-podded snow pea. Perfect for stir frys. Sweet berries inside big sweet pods combine for a delicious flavor treat. High yields of large, 4½” x 1″, medium green, flat pods. The 30″, white-flowered vines grow with or without support. High resistance to fusarium wilt race 1, pea enation mosaic virus, and powdery mildew. Bred by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon State University.
TCB072 Dwarf Grey Edible Podded
Heirloom. A very sweet Snow Pea for stir-frying or allow to mature for sweet peas. Earliest producing snow pea with the most dwarf edible pods! Prolific, 24-30″ tall bushy plants produce 2 ½-3″ clusters of light green, plump, deliciously sweet tender pods located at the tops of the plants for easy picking.
Harvest when young and continue picking to promote further fruiting. Can be eaten raw straight from the garden, steamed or stir-fried. Attractive edible purple flowers and shoots brighten salads and add a splash of beauty to salads or as a garnishment to any dish. Heat and cold tolerant.
Perfect for containers. 57 days.
TST178 Sugar Snap
65 days. 1979 AAS Edible – Vegetable Winner
The mature pods of AAS Gold Medal Winner Sugar Snap snap pea are round with fleshy walls and are crisp and delicious through full maturity. Even overripe pods can be shelled and the green peas eaten alone or mixed with the pods. With Sugar Snap Peas you get to eat the entire pod with the peas nestled inside. The pods are juicy, crisp, sweet, and crunchy. Stringless, 3-inch pods keep their rich color and real crunch after cooking.
TST171 Early Freezer
This double podded variety delivers high yields of high quality peas for serving fresh as well freezing. Vines grow about 24″ long, with 4 inch pods holding 7-8 peas. 58 days.
TST125 Green Arrow
Gourmet peas! A wonderful heirloom pea that produces in 65 days. Heavy yielding 24-30 inch tall plants produce plump, 4-5 inch long pods containing 8-11 wonderfully sweet petite emerald green peas. Pods develop in pairs and set at the top of the plant which makes picking easy!
Excellent for canning and freezing, commercial production, fresh markets and home gardens. Resists Wilt and Mildew.
TST142 Mammoth Melting
Standard snow pea. The vines are vigorous and produce enormous pods for a long time. Pods are thick and fleshy. They remain stringless and sweet longer than most others.
This is by far the largest and finest of the snow peas. The sweetness of garden peas is legendary. This early, extremely prolific snow pea produces straight 4 1/2″ pods that remain stringless and sweet longer than most others. It freezes well and is an outstanding winter crop in Zones 9-11. Direct-sow in early spring, again in midsummer for a fall crop. 70 days.
AW68 Tall Telephone Climbing Pea
An old heirloom variety with delicious early peas dating back to 1890. A main crop garden pea. It does require support as it will climb to about six feet in height. The pods are large (up to four inches), maturing five to nine peas each. Very productive and good for fresh eating or freezing. 75 days.
TCB066 Champion of England
An old strain collected by Robert Woodbridge’s grandfather in the 1940’s from a manor garden in Lincolnshire, England. Robert’s grandmother preserved this variety for years and then Robert passed some on to the Real Seed Catalogue in the UK.
Tall growing vines produce many large pods filled with delicious sweet peas. Vines grow to 10 feet tall if trellised. Each pod has 8-10 seeds. A delicious shelling pea. 72 days.
Source link
About The Author
