Many years, I don’t even bother planting peas. More often than not, the spring weather around here is just too warm to grow much of a crop.
Peas need cool growing temperatures to grow otherwise, if the temperature gets too high, they just quit growing and never produce. That goes for all types of peas: shelling peas, snow peas and snap peas.
Shell peas are the type of peas we buy in the frozen food department. Those have already been shelled from their pea pods and quick frozen.
Snow peas are the flat-podded peas used in Chinese cooking. Snow peas are harvested while the pods are still quite flat and the peas inside are just beginning to swell. I like to plant snow peas because they’re essential for stir-frying.
Snap peas have edible pods too but they are not snow peas. They are harvested and eaten much like a green bean, when the peas are larger but still tender. ‘Sugar Snap’ is one of the first ever varieties of snap peas developed.
This spring is shaping up to be a good pea growing year. I plan to get an extra large spot planted just as soon as the soil temperature warms up to 45 degrees F.
Most pea seed these days are sold as untreated seed. Treated seed is covered with a chemical that helps protect the seed from rotting in cold damp soil. It is identified by it’s brightly colored dye.
You might want to try planting peas too. You just might end up with enough peas to make a meal or two with some left over for freezing.
By the way, the flowering plant called sweet peas are not edible. The belong to an entirely different genus.
Bob