snow pea problems and questions

[vegie chicken]

my snow peas got hit by frost heavily, re-germinated thenhit by another frost and this cycle continued for the whole of winter. it is starting to warm up so i'm hoping for it to be frost free for another year. one plant is healthy but the others look like they have seen the good days and only the new growth looks kind of good.
should i let it grow before it gets to hot
or
should i leave it so the self induced nitrogen can be put back into the ground.

do i have to wait til the plants have died to get most of the nitrogen or can i chop the plan up and leave the roots in the ground to do their work.

 

[bills]

Starting to warm up..now? Where are you, in Australia?

Although they are called snow peas, I plant mine in the spring, when it's just starting to warm up, usually late March, early April. Cold hasn't been a factor for me, it's if it get to hot that issues begin. I could try planting a late summer crop, but I think the harvest would be reduced, compared to a spring crop, least in my zone..

I would think that the nitrogen is mainly in the roots, but no reason why you couldn't dig the entire plant under, if you have time for them to compost before starting to plant in that area again. I usually pull the entire plant, root and all, when they have dried up, and use them as as brown layer in my compost heap. I'm sure some nitrogen is left in the ground after anyways, but nitrogen in the compost is good as well, for it helps replace the nitrogen lost in breaking down the carbon based compost addings, leaves, etc..