Introduction
This is my 3rd year of growing peas, and it's become one of the most anticipated crops in my family. You will never match the sweetness of freshly picked peas. I am growing several different varieties this year. One of them is Dwarf Grey Sugar Snow Peas. This is an old variety that been around since the late 1800s. It has been able to stick around because it's a reliable producer. I have heard mixed reviews on these peas. Some loved them, some though they were much better varieties of snow peas available.
Snow peas can be eaten whole. The pods are flat and needed to be eaten before the peas inside mature. You can tell the difference between them and sugar snap, as those peas produce an edible round, plumb pod.
When to Plant
Some people say you can plant them on St. Patrick's Day. And you can as long as your soil is workable. But the thing is peas need warm enough soil to germinate. But when they have germinated, they like to grow in cooler weather. So your best bet is to plant them during a warm spell in the spring and then hope for a cool down once they are growing.
Starting Seeds Outdoors
Snow peas are easy to grow from seeds and usually emerge between 7-14 days. Peas have tender roots, so I don't recommend you transplanting them. I also found that you can plant them close together, as they grow upward. Even thought these are a dwarf variety, like with all my peas, I provide some kind of support. To save some money this year, I just used tomato cages, since they aren't in use as tomato cages right now.
Expected Harvest
I planted them a couple weeks ago. Peas grow fairly quickly. The harvest time for this particular variety is 57 days. Depending on weather, I will be eating them in mid June, right at the end of spring.
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