digitS'
Garden Master
I live about 80 miles north of the "Pea & Lentil Capital of the US." That probably makes it too easy to grow peas here and I certainly don't know about growing them somewhere else.
Snap peas are the most important garden vegetable introduction (Idaho plant breeder, Dr. Calvin Lamborn ) in my lifetime, IMO. The only thing that slows me down with them is the need to build trellises for the tall varieties and that I've never found the dwarf types to be very productive. All garden peas will also develop powder mildew late and have had downy mildew early, but that isn't much of a problem. I usually set up at least 3, 35' trellises over 4' wide beds.
So Lucky, I can grow a crop of Sugar Pod peas, haven't tried the others, by sowing seed the last week of July. The vines will not grow very tall and so hardly need a trellis. They will bloom & produce pods at the very end of the season. Yes, they can survive the 1st frosts but cold weather really slows down their continuing development.
Hoodat, I've grown Alaska peas several times for both shell peas and dry peas. I've had problems with weevils in the dry peas but not every time. The only thing I can say is that the smooth-seeded peas handle cold soil much better than the real sugary, wrinkled peas. I don't know what difference that might make if the soil is never cold enough to interfere with germination. And, I don't know if the vines do much better early on just because the seed can germinate early. Maybe yes, and maybe it would be best to grow them right thru a San Diego winter. However . . . that looks like what you have done with the Snap peas. Why don't you think about saving some of that seed to see how it would be in soup? I know that it is a shame to lose those fleshy pods but I suspect the flavor of the seed may be same as a soup pea.
Steve
Snap peas are the most important garden vegetable introduction (Idaho plant breeder, Dr. Calvin Lamborn ) in my lifetime, IMO. The only thing that slows me down with them is the need to build trellises for the tall varieties and that I've never found the dwarf types to be very productive. All garden peas will also develop powder mildew late and have had downy mildew early, but that isn't much of a problem. I usually set up at least 3, 35' trellises over 4' wide beds.
So Lucky, I can grow a crop of Sugar Pod peas, haven't tried the others, by sowing seed the last week of July. The vines will not grow very tall and so hardly need a trellis. They will bloom & produce pods at the very end of the season. Yes, they can survive the 1st frosts but cold weather really slows down their continuing development.
Hoodat, I've grown Alaska peas several times for both shell peas and dry peas. I've had problems with weevils in the dry peas but not every time. The only thing I can say is that the smooth-seeded peas handle cold soil much better than the real sugary, wrinkled peas. I don't know what difference that might make if the soil is never cold enough to interfere with germination. And, I don't know if the vines do much better early on just because the seed can germinate early. Maybe yes, and maybe it would be best to grow them right thru a San Diego winter. However . . . that looks like what you have done with the Snap peas. Why don't you think about saving some of that seed to see how it would be in soup? I know that it is a shame to lose those fleshy pods but I suspect the flavor of the seed may be same as a soup pea.
Steve