There are peas that need to be shelled, peas that only need to be snapped, peas named snow, and sweet peas that can be smelled. There are pea plants that are small, and many that are tall. There is a pea for every taste, and every eye and nose. Peas are one of the first vegetables that can be planted in the spring. What more could one ask of a humble legume?

All peas prefer a fairly neutral soil with a pH of 6-7.5.  If your soil is more acid give it a helping of lime or wood ash before planting. Peas love cold weather and once germinated can even survive a light kiss of frost. There is a tradition of planting peas on St. Patrick’s day, but in our region I think planting them a month later is more realistic. Still it is good to remember that peas like the cold and can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked.

Most of the peas that end up on our dinner plate have to be shelled. Laxton’s Progress No 9, so named because of its (often) 9 peas in the pod, is an old variety with  short, hardy and productive vines. Tall Telephone peas are another old variety, but these are tall, obviously, and have been popular ever since they were introduced in 1881. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds specializes in tasty old varieties of peas – and every other kind of vegetable.

Strike is a new variety that can be harvested in only 49 days. The two foot vines can be grown with or without support. Maxigolt is another newer variety, with tall vines ready for harvest in 62 days. It is rated as having excellent flavor.

I like fresh shelling peas, but I love sugar snaps. I rarely get to cook these edible podded peas because I snack on them while I am working in the garden, or I can’t resist eating them on the walk from the garden to the house. If I am lucky I have a few to throw in the salad.

Even without the sugar in its name, the edible podded Snap Pea is sweet and has been called the most flavorful snap pea. The tall vines need a support and ripen in 62 days, bearing over a long period. It handles warm weather better than other peas.  Sugar Daddy is a stringless open-pollinated sugar snap with 30 inch vines and good disease resistance. High Mowing Seeds up in Vermont offers these peas and others.

Snow peas, also called Chinese pea pods because they are so familiar in Chinese cooking, have flat pods with tiny peas inside. I have grown Oregon Giant snow peas, but this year I am intrigued by Golden Sweet snow peas. They need a trellis and produce yellow pea pods. I always like peas and beans that are not green. So much easier to see when picking. Snow peas can be eaten raw or cooked quickly in a stir fry.

I was fascinated by the sidebar box in Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog that promotes their new Petite Snap-Greens. These are best harvested at 6-8 inches for their early edible tendrils to be used as a garnish, but they can be grown to full maturity.

More than a garnish are peas like Dwarf Grey Sugar Pea which can be grown as a micro-green. The pea shoots can be harvested after only 10 days for your salad.  Feisty is a type of shell pea that produces lots of tendrils and few leaves. The tendrils are used as garnishes.

Shell, sugar and snow peas are all delicious, and flowering sweet peas are beautiful and fragrant. Renee’s Garden Seeds specializes in a large array of sweet peas, varying in depth of color, in intensity of fragrance and in bloom season.

Sweet peas have been hybridized for nearly two centuries, and in many cases some of the fragrance has been lost. Renee lists Original Cupani, with its deep maroon and lavender blossoms as one of the earliest and most fragrant varieties, as is Painted Lady in shades of red and pink. Jewels of Albion with blossoms in shades of blue and mauve and Queen of Night with flowers in a bouquet of shades of pink, blue and maroon are also particularly fragrant. Blue Celeste has large frilly blossoms of pastel blue and also has good fragrance.

Most sweet peas have tall vines and need a trellis for support, as well as rich well drained soil. Renee recommends nicking each seed with a nail clipper to make it easier for the seed to absorb water and begin to germinate. What peas will you be planting this spring?

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Next Saturday, March 7 is the final Winter Farmer’s Market of the season. After that its spring. Kind of. And we’ll soon be shopping at the  regular Farmer’s Market.

Between the Rows   February 21, 2015