Planting Sugar Snap Peas for Spring!

It’s that time of the year again… a sugar snap pea planting post!
Every year I post about them with pretty much the same pictures and details, and every single year I post about them with crazy enthusiasm.  I mean there’s no garden without sugar snap peas growing!

Last year we grew a bunch of sugar snap pea plants but this year (as always) we kicked it up a bit.  There will be 93 sugar snap pea plants!  There’s 22 in one 4×4 box in the back, 22 in another 4×4 box in the back and then 49 plants that will take up a entire 4×4 box.   We’re one sugar snap pea loving family as you can tell.

About a week ago we started pre-sprouting the peas inside.  Pre-sprouting will make sure your peas will grow once they’re in the soil as you’ll visually see they have already started.   This makes growing more stress free as if it’s already pre-sprouted you can be pretty sure it will pop through the soil in a few days and that it’s not rotting underneath.  Here’s a how to pre-sprout your peas tutorial I made a couple years ago.

After they sit in their plastic baggy for a few days, you’ll take them out and see they’ve all sprouted.  That means they’re ready for the ground!

Before we put them into the ground we always mix them with seed inoculant which encourages high-nitrogen levels on roots for bigger plants which will yield more harvest!   This is the type of inoculant we use.  If you’ve never used it for your peas, you should try it!

Now finally we’re on the roof!
We plant the peas in 3 4×4 boxes.  2 of them we plant in the back where they are supported by a fence.  We dig a little trench in the soil and throw the peas in, usually about 3 inches apart.  Can you spot the 3 peas?

For the other 4×4 box we poke 49 (7 rows of 7)  holes in the soil and then drop the peas in.

After the peas are in, we’ll cover them up, push down on the soil gently with our hands and then sprinkle them with water.  Then you wait for the first one to pop through the soil which usually takes over a week.  It’s a exciting time where every day you will run to the garden to see the first one.   Once  the first one pops up the others will follow quickly.

So with the peas planted and the fences in place, now we’ll just wait for the peas…

Do you grow sugar snap peas or other type of peas?