How to Grow and Harvest Organic Peas

Peas are another cold weather crop my husband puts in his organic garden. Rule of thumb is you can plant peas as early as St Patrick's day. It was a bit cold here in Indiana in March so our peas got in a bit later. He got them planted April 17. Let me share with you how my husband grows and harvests organic peas.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pea seeds
• Straw or grass clippings for mulch
• Stake to tie up the plants
• Rope
• Strips of cloth

1. 
    
   Row of peas

   Plant your pea seeds in a row. As the pea plants start to come up, put mulch around them to keep the weeds down. Put stakes on both ends of the row and tie ropes from end to end. Put maybe 3 ropes on the stakes. As the pea plants get larger, stake them up and help them rest against the ropes for easier picking.

2. 
    
   Pea blossoms

   After a few weeks you will see pea blossoms starting to show up on your pea plants.

3. 
    
   Peas

   Your Peas are start to form out of the blossoms. You will start to get excited that soon you will be eating those organic peas.

4. 
    
   Feel the pods

   Your peas will start getting bigger and the pods will start to fill out. You can tell how big your peas are in the pods by feeling them.

5. 
    
   Pop a Pea open

   As you are testing your peas for the correct size, pop one maybe two open and taste them. Fresh organic peas right in the garden are so sweet and good. I actually like them better than cooking them.

6. 
    
   Pick Peas

   When it's time to pick your peas get a container or plastic grocery bag and pinch them off at the stem. Ours are taking 7 1/2 weeks from seed to pot this year. Yummmmmmm!

Tips & Warnings

• Peas are great frozen and eaten all year.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide

[Mitestarossa]

on 6/11/2009 A very healthy snack or side dish.

[sonni57]

on 6/10/2009 I used to pick peas with my grandmother many ages ago.

[athome]

on 6/10/2009 I love peas and taking them out of the pea pods. 5*****