Legumes
Pea
Pisum sativum
Timings for your region
Suggested: Moderate · Explained in the glossary
Sow outdoorsearly March – early May
Harvestearly June – early August
Practical tip
Early beats late — from June on the crop suffers from mildew. A net or twiggy support saves a lot of propping up later.
Origin & history
The pea comes from the Fertile Crescent and is one of the plants that travelled with farming into Central Europe. Until the 19th century it was above all a dried pea and a winter store — the “Erbswurst” invented in 1867 was bought up soon after by the Prussian army as marching rations. A piece of scientific history hangs on it too: Gregor Mendel worked out his laws of inheritance on peas, among other things on smooth and wrinkled seeds.
Varieties
Round-seeded peas have smooth grains, are starchy, especially cold-tolerant and traditionally harvested dry; wrinkled marrowfat types taste distinctly sweeter fresh but germinate less well in cold soil and are sown two to three weeks later. The variety also decides the support: low types stay at 50 to 80 cm, tall ones climb to two metres. Peas are self-pollinating and open-pollinated — saving your own seed is easier here than with almost any other vegetable.
Care
Once the plants are about 10 cm tall, earth them up and put the support right beside them so the tendrils can grab hold at once. No feeding; water sparingly up to flowering and thoroughly afterwards, because flowering and pod fill decide the crop. After harvest cut off only the haulm and leave the roots with their nodules in the soil.
What can go wrong
Powdery mildew is hard to avoid from July onwards — you work against it with wide spacing, airy rows, watering at the base rather than over the foliage, and tolerant varieties. Pigeons and mice take both seed and seedlings; twiggy sticks or netting over the freshly sown row deal with that reliably. The grub in the pod is the larva of the pea moth, which flies from the start of flowering: fine-mesh netting over the crop, or a very early sowing, gets the harvest past it. Peas do not tolerate following themselves — leave five to six years before the same bed grows them again.
Harvest, storage & kitchen
Round-seeded peas are picked from the bottom of the plant upwards, when the pods are plump but still deep green and glossy; dull, pale pods mean mealy peas. The sugar breaks down quickly after picking, so shell and cook them the same day, or blanch and freeze them. For dried peas, leave the plants standing until the pods rattle when shaken.
All timings are guide values for the given climate, not a guarantee. Weather, aspect and variety all have a say.