Why Are My Peas Not Sprouting?

Gardening can be a great rewarding experience. One of the most rewarding experiences is growing your own peas. Peas fresh picked from the garden have a sweet flavor you will never find in a grocery store. I like to grow shelling, sugar snap, and snow peas. But growing them doesn't come without it's challenges and setbacks. Yesterday, I was speaking with a friend and she said that after three weeks of being in the ground her peas still had not sprouted. So upon further examination, she discovered that her peas had simply rotted. Why does something like this happen? Well we have been experiencing a cold, very wet spring. Neither of these things are good for peas. Peas do like to grow in colder weather than other crops, but they do need the soil to be a certain temperature in order to germinate. The soil needs to be at least somewhere around 45 degrees for germination. We have had several days were our temperatures struggle to reach 45 as a high. Since germination has been slow, the amount of rain we have gotten most likely caused my friend's peas to rot. These conditions are not the norm for our area.

Turning my attention to my own garden. I was concerned that same thing was happening to me. I checked my peas today and even thought it has taken them twice as long as normal to germinate, I found some signs of green life sprouting out of the soil. I planted my seeds about a week or so later than she did.

So what should you do if you find your peas are not sprouting? After about 2 ½ weeks or so, pick an area where you planted and dig it up carefully. See if your peas are rotted. If that is the case, you still have time to replant, so give it a second try. If you find your peas plant are there, not rotting, but not seeming to grow, then it's possible you have some bad seeds, try a different source and try again.