Spring planting doesn’t start when the air feels warm, It...Read More
Sugar Snap Pea is the most well-known and sought-after pea variety to grow. These peas grow up to 6 feet tall and require a trellis to support their growth. Sugar Snap Pea pods are 2 to 3 inches long, plump, crisp, tender and sweet tasting. In the early spring, the Sugar Snap Pea flowers attract beneficial pollinators. The seeds germinate well in cold soil and grow very quickly, yielding long into the season.
Sugar Snap Pea pods add a delightful crunch to a variety of dishes. Try these pea pods in fried rice or stir-fries, steamed by itself or sauteed with thinly sliced Utah Yellow Onion and Black Beauty Zucchini, or in soups & stews. That is to say, these make it into the house at all – Sugar Snap Pea’s are most delicious picked fresh off the vine!
Sugar Snap Pea were developed by Dr. Carl Lamborn, a horticulturalist from the University of Idaho. During his research into new types of peas for commercial food processing, the Sugar Snap Pea was discovered. He ended up with this pea, the first of the sugar snap varieties, by crossing a thick shelled English pea with a snow pea. The Sugar Snap Pea won the prestigious AAS Gold Medal award in 1979.
NAME: Pea (Pisum sativum)
VARIETY: Sugar Snap
DAYS TO MATURITY: 70
POLLINATION: Open Pollinated
TYPE: Annual
HARDINESS ZONE: Zones 3 – 12
SUNLIGHT: Full sun needed
SOIL: Fertile, loose soil with a pH 6.5 – 7.0
PLANT HEIGHT: 48 – 72 inches
SPACING: 6 inches apart
TEMP: 45 – 85 °F
These seeds do not required stratification.
To learn more about Stratification, click here!
Start seeds in large cell trays or small pots with seed starting mix, 2 weeks before your last local frost.
Plant 1 to 2 seed per cell 1 inch deep and water in adequately. Germination should occur in 6 to 11 days.
After the seedlings emerge, provide a fluorescent/LED grow light 3 inches above the seedlings turned on for 12 hours, off for 12 hours.
Remove all but 1 seedling per cell tray or pot.
Before transplanting outdoors, harden off seedlings for several days. Do this by taking them outside during the day and bringing them in at night (Outside temps should be above 50°F when you start this process).
Seeds should be planted at least 7 days before your last local spring frost and a second sowing late summer.
Plant 1 seed every 2 inches in double rows 6 inches apart, with 3 feet between each double row.
Prepare a garden bed that has loose, fertile soil, free of rocks and weeds with ample compost laid on top of the soil prior to planting.
This bed should receive full sun throughout the day and be able to support a trellis system for the peas to grow up.
You can use a cage, wire mesh, netting, cattle panel or any other stable structure as a trellis.
Adding mulch around the base of the plant will help retain moisture.
As the plants grow, assist them to start climbing the trellis.
Before they bloom, pea plants need to be kept moist but not wet; after blooming, slightly increase the watering.
To determine when to pick sugarsnap peas, check the pods by eye and feel; if the pea pod is round, has a nice sheen, and is bright green, it is ready; if there is hard ridges and they are dull green in color, it is past prime.
Pick sugarsnap peas before the peas start to enlarge for best flavor.
Use scissors or pinch the pods off the vines to avoid damaging the plants.
If your harvest is bountiful, blanch your peas and freeze them; it is best to do this shortly after harvesting to maintain flavor; use frozen peas within 9 months for best quality.
