Pea Seeds

Planting Peas is Easy and Kid Friendly

The first pea of summer is a tantalizing treat. It’s a little bit like breaking the fast of winter. These cool-season annuals are one of the first vegetables to go in the ground in early spring and may be the most anticipated harvest of all. Peas are a favorite with children—the seeds are sized perfectly for small fingers. Peas are easy to sow, and rewarding to harvest. This is a project your whole family will be in on!

To plant peas, choose a site with fertile, well-draining soil that gets full sun. Peas benefit from a trellis (T-posts and hortonova netting work well), and you can build the trellis before you sow seeds or after seedlings are a few inches tall. Direct sow pea seeds a month before the last frost by pushing the seeds an inch deep into the ground, six inches apart.

Understanding the many different types of peas

Peas come in three main types—sugar peas, snow peas, and shelling peas. Each type is prepared differently and has a different flavor. Sugar snap peas are best for eating raw—these stringless, crunchy seedpods are a refreshing snack right in the garden. Snow peas look a little different than the plump sugar snaps—these peas are tastiest before the inner seeds develop. Snow peas are delicious when cooked, but be sure to pull the string! Shelling peas have inedible pods, but the inner peas are delicious! For best tasting peas, harvest snap pea pods as they become plump but are still young and tender. Pick snow peas when the pods reach full size and the peas inside are just beginning to swell. Gather sweet green shell peas when the pods begin to show a waxy sheen.

Excellent Companion Plants for Peas

The pea is technically a legume, which is a plant that fixes its own nitrogen in the soil. Because of this superpower, legumes are known to be excellent companion plants to a number of vegetables, including carrots, celery, parsley, eggplant, and peppers.

The Wonderful Health Benefits of Peas

Not only are fresh peas delicious, but peas contain an ample amount of nutritional benefits too. Peas are rich in vitamins and have anti-inflammatory properties that work to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Peas are known to have antioxidants, which promote eye health, and fiber, crucial to digestive health.

Eden Brothers offers 20 varieties of pea seeds.

For more information about planting, growing, and harvesting pea seeds, see the Pea Seeds Planting Guide.