Why You Should Stop Growing Tomatoes and Give Peas a Chance
Peas are tenacious bastards.
Full disclosure, I didn’t grow up loving those green garden tears. I suspect my parents weren’t fans, which is why they were absent from the table. To this day, I will use my chopsticks to pop them out of fried rice, one at a time, with the precision of a surgeon. If you’ve only eaten canned or frozen peas, you probably feel the same way. Soft peas can kick rocks. But few things are better than standing in your garden in April and May, plucking fresh peas from the trellis and stuffing them raw into your mouth. They are the garden equivalent of botanists.
I realize the pod doesn’t have the same sex appeal as a giant juicy Brandywine tomato. Tomatoes have the best PR. But if you’re looking for limited space and higher satisfaction, I tell you: stop trying to grow tomatoes. Peas are just a thing.
They are light. The seeds are large and unassuming. They don’t get lost and don’t require a magnifying glass to find these easy-to-plant 1/4-inch plungers: every few inches stick your finger into the soil up to the joint and drop the seed into the hole. It’s hard to crowd your peas. They are like fans of electronic dance music – they do not need personal space.
They don’t need anything but dirt, sun and water. They are difficult to waterlog, they germinate quickly (in a few days!) and the slightly harsh April weather won’t stop them. Due to two sudden snowstorms and eight rounds of hail in mid-April this week, my tomatoes and flowers withered, but my peas weren’t worried.
Their roots don’t need much room to spread, so they grow easily in pots. They are suitable for small spaces because they are mostly vertical plants. Unlike the tomato, they don’t need heavy support; one pole would be ok. Let them grow a railing on the balcony of your apartment or a decorative rail at the front door. Or you can just hang a bird net somewhere and they will be just as delighted.
The best argument in favor of peas is productivity. A tomato plant, even a very good one, produces a limited amount of fruit in a short time and is completely dependent on the weather that year. Tomatoes are easy targets for birds, squirrels, and other garden robbers, as well as millions of different fungi, viruses, and blossom end rot. Peas are not only immune to all this, but they are the hero of the garden, replacing the nitrogen in the soil used up by other plants. Smart gardeners make sure that each bed has peas or beans planted along with other vegetables.
Peas are amazing and the more you collect the more you get. You will go outside and eat every damn day. Their flexibility is amazing. Eat them whole pods early or wait until they swell and then use your fingers to separate them into pieces to reveal three to eight perfectly round peas inside. If this is too difficult for you, squeeze to pop the capsule directly into your mouth. (I don’t care what she said, I support it!) If they’re peeling peas, you can just wait for it to dry on the vine and save it for the winter. Pea shoots are a valuable part of a hot dish in their own right, and they are delicious to roast. And if you remove the shoot from the vine, the pea does not care. They’ll just make some new Fraggle Rock-style escapes for you.
What about their sexuality? I say we all miss the boat. Peas – which, for the record, have never been a source of heartburn (I’m looking at you, tomato ) – produce tendrils that grab onto anything to catch on, and these tendrils are also edible (many restaurants use them). for shine). They can grow up to 10 feet, giving you the perfect shade spot in your garden. I grow them on arches so that the peas hang down.
Are you not convinced yet? Take a pot, planter or even a shallow trough and pour the peas into the ground. Buy some seeds, soak them in a jar of warm water for 2-3 days, then plant and be on your way to a successful harvest.
When deciding which pea variety to grow, look at the descriptions on the seed packets, which will give you information on yield and how tall the plants will grow. While I generally recommend finding a local seed company in your area, it is safe to buy pea seeds at the grocery store or anywhere else you can find seeds. (Here’s a great chart from Johnny’s Seeds, the national seed house , that shows the differences between their peas.)
Peas
Snaps are probably what you think of when you think of peas – a thick pod covering round, plump green buas. They are called “ground peas” because they are deliciously crispy and make a clicking sound when broken. (I could make it up.) The young pods are deliciously edible; fully grown pods are also technically edible, just a bit tougher. Save the tougher pods and make pea vinegar by tossing them in a jar and topping with white vinegar and a little sugar.
green peas
The flat pods (pea pods) that you are probably used to in Asian cuisine are snow peas. They start out flat and small and get longer, with a few smaller peas spaced apart. The pods usually remain edible all the time.
shelling peas
They are very similar to snaps, but the pods are inedible and must be removed. While other pea vines can reach up to 10 feet depending on variety, shelled peas typically reach three feet or less. When it comes to storing peas, which means you’ll dry them and store them for the winter, shelled peas are ideal.
Sweet pea
Sweet peas are NOT edible. None of them are edible. They are very toxic, but they are actually peas. People grow these poisonous beauties because they have a magnificent flower that smells amazing. The vines look like edible peas, but the flowers and pods are different enough that you won’t (probably) eat them by accident.
purple peas
Many seed vendors now offer purple vegetables, which seem very charming, because who doesn’t want purple pea pods? There is a running joke among gardeners that purple peas, while amazing, have an aftertaste that makes them quite awful, but every gardener should experience it for themselves before discarding it. I am often reminded of the year when literally pounds of purple peas could not be forced from my magnificent 12-foot tower of peas on anyone, friend or foe. (Someone, and I’m not saying it was Claire Lower , but it was Claire Lower, actually threw back at me.)
If you want to get into growing your own food, stop messing around with tomatoes. Put a few pea seeds in the ground. Now is the time, and peas are just a vegetable to start with. Even if you decide to use the place for the tomatoes later, you will have enough time to clean the peas before then.