How to Plant Peas

David Epstein: Hi I'm Dave Epstein for Growing Wisdom and we’re going to be vegetable gardening today. And this year, we’re going to be sharing with you a lot of hour experiences in the vegetable gardens. Experience one—I'm excited; my seeds arrived from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. One of the first crops I like to put in the garden are peas. I love growing peas; I've been doing this since I was ten years old. So let’s tell you what we’re going to do. The first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to soak the peas overnight. That will help germination. Step number two, we’re going to inoculate them with a nitrogen fixing bacteria. That’s going to help further with germination. Next, we’re going to prepare the ground. As for preparing the ground, we’re going to put in the trellis; that’s going to give them support. We’re going to plant the peas and then they’re going to grow. That’s our step for today; let’s get to work. I am just preparing the soil; loosening it up. You know it’s been a sleep all winter. Get some oxygen in there. The trellis goes where the peas are going to be planted. You want to do that before you plant the peas; because then you can plant your peas around the trellis. It’s very important to use a support when you’re planting peas that grow anywhere over 3 feet tall. You don’t want your pea vines running along the ground; they’ll be more susceptible to disease; and the pods make it eaten by things like slugs and you certainly don’t want that. I make my rows about an inch deep. We put the peas in the row. The peas should be spaced about 1 ½ inches of heart and I like to space them correctly the first time so they don’t have to go in then thin them. Thinning, is taking out the plants which are too close. The reason why you don’t want to thin your peas is that the roots grow together so quickly you’ll end up pulling up the good plants and the ones that are too close together. So space them correctly in the first place. They need the light, the soil nutrients, and all the water. If they’re too close together, they’re not going to grow as well. Well them I'm going to cover them with about a half an inch to an inch of soil. It’s that simple. Finally, we wait. Pea should come up at about 7 to 14 days depending on your soil conditions. If it’s very cold and wet, it will take a little bit longer. If it’s too cold and wet, peas can rot and you may have to plant them again. So save your packets. For Growing Wisdom, I'm Dave Epstein.