The Modern Victory Garden

Do you have difficulty harvesting such a wide area of sweet peas?  I can't see how you will reach the inside pods?  Also, my first year to grow peas, and everything has been perfect til this unexpected hot weather, 90's for this entire week.  I have lots of pods on and still some flowering going on.  I wonder what to expect  I am trying to water lots, but fear for them and the broccolli and lettuces..

Jenny - I plant a variety that produces a heavy crop pretty much all at one time.   Peas generally slow down or quit when the summer heat arrives so having them peak in production just as the real summer weather sets in works well and allows me to process them for the freezer easily as well.   the other benefit is that I do not try to "pick" peas from the patch like I do bush beans etc.    Instead, when the patch is ready for harvest, I just pull the pea vines up and then strip off the pods.   Much easier and it then opens the bed up for my mid summer planting of broccoli and cabbages for the fall garden.   I did a rather detailed post about this in July 2009.   Here's a link to that post.

http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/apps/blog/show/1309853-pea-harvest

It shows the process from beginning of the picking to the prep for the freezer.   I hope that answers your questions!

kitsapfreedomgardener at May 31, 2011 at 11:07 PM

Jenny - I plant a variety that produces a heavy crop pretty much all at one time.   Peas generally slow down or quit when the summer heat arrives so having them peak in production just as the real summer weather sets in works well and allows me to process them for the freezer easily as well.   the other benefit is that I do not try to "pick" peas from the patch like I do bush beans etc.    Instead, when the patch is ready for harvest, I just pull the pea vines up and then strip off the pods.   Much easier and it then opens the bed up for my mid summer planting of broccoli and cabbages for the fall garden.   I did a rather detailed post about this in July 2009.   Here's a link to that post.

http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/apps/blog/show/1309853-pea-harvest

It shows the process from beginning of the picking to the prep for the freezer.   I hope that answers your questions!

Interesting, what variety do you plant

I have been planting "Dakota" peas for the past four years now.   I really like this variety but there are many others that are good producers with similar qualities.