How to Plant Sugar Snap Peas With Poles

Sugar snap peas are sweet and can be eaten raw or lightly cooked.

Sugar snap peas are a home-garden crop which can produce well in a small area and short amount of time. They have the added benefit of being a legume and help to fix nitrogen in the soil, improving the soil for crops that follow.

Peas prefer temperatures below 86 F and can be planted four weeks before the last spring frost. They are an ideal early spring vegetable and are often the first crop in the temperate home garden.

Things You'll Need

• Sugar snap pea seeds
• Shovel or spade
• Garden fork
• Rake
• Compost or organic fertilizer
• Liquid fertilizer
• Wire mesh, 3 feet tall.
• Stakes or poles
• String
• Large hammer or mallet

Instructions

Planting Sugar Snap Peas

1. 

   Turn over the soil to thoroughly mix in compost or fertilizer.

   Choose an area of the vegetable garden where there is full sun and some protection from strong winds. Peas do not do well when planted with onions, leeks or garlic so select a site away from these plants.

2. 

   The leafy sprouts of peas are edible in salads.

   Add compost and turn over the soil with a spade or shovel if the ground is hard and a garden fork if the soil is soft, until the soil is loose and friable. Rake the surface even.

3. Erect the trellis and put poles into the soil before planting the seeds. Stakes, such as tall tomato stakes or wire mesh supported by stakes or poles are ideal but should be at least three feet tall. If the bed is close to a fence, use the fence to support the wire mesh. Hammer the poles well into the soil until they are firm. Attach the mesh to the poles firmly using string, if the wire is insufficient. Peas climb best on vertical supports.

4. 

   Sowi seeds in a well-raked bed.

   Mark a row along the trellis by dragging the back of the rake along the bed. Plant the seeds 2 inches apart and one inch deep along the rows. This may be done by pressing down the seed with the thumb to the first joint and then covering the seed with soil. Rows can be planted 18 to 24 inches apart in the home garden.

5. Water the seeds well after planting but be careful not to over water in the coming weeks as large seeds can rot. Weed when necessary. If the leaves are very pale, apply a liquid fertilizer once a week.

Tips & Warnings

• Harvest your sugar snap peas as they reach full size but don't wait until they fill out. They should be ready to pick a week after flowering and pollination. Your crop should be ready to harvest in approxiamately 75 days and provide picking for several weeks.

References

• NSW Agriculture; Agfacts: Snow Peas and Sugar Snap Peas; C. Beckingham; 2001
• Department of Primary Industry Victoria Agriculture; Snow Pea and Sugar Snap Pea; Neville Fernando; November 2009
• Sustainable Gardening Australia; Companion Planting; Lyn Bagnall; February 2010