The Garden Doctor
Give peas a chance
If pampered, they will thrive in our cooler months, providing delicious pods and fragrant flowers.
By JOHN A. STARNES JR.
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 22, 2003
[Photo: John A. Starnes Jr.]
If you like snow peas, they may be planted now. The pods are tender and the leaves are edible in salads or stir-fries.
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The cooler months in Central Florida are the best times to cultivate the sweet, crunchy pods and the unmistakably fragrant sweet-pea flowers.
Edible peas and sweet peas will thrive if given full sun; rich, fertile soil, a place to climb and cool or cold nights.
October through February is ideal planting time because peas grow quickly; even a frost won't hurt them. Add plenty of compost to sandy soil, and if you have highly acidic inland soil, also apply a light sprinkling of dolomitic limestone, then turn it under. Peas like "sweet soil," so coastal gardeners need add only compost. Feed the peas once a month with a good drenching of fish emulsion; about 3 tablespoons per gallon of water is fine. Once they start to climb, entwine them in a trellis or chain-link fence; they will take off as their tendrils grab hold.
If you like snow peas, they may also be planted now. Plan to enjoy the tender pods and edible leaves in salads or tossed into stir-fries. For the most food per foot of garden row, sow the irresistibly crunchy-sweet sugar-snap peas. Try the modern dwarfs that need no trellis or the old original with the 4-foot vines.
You can harvest the pea-flavored tender leaves and tendrils until the pods form. The pods are stringless and filled with crisp, plump peas.
Many northern transplants might miss old-fashioned sweet peas and their heavenly perfume. By the 1970s, that amazing fragrance had been lost by breeders in search of new colors and bigger blooms. Luckily, the wild species was rediscovered on Sicily. Some heirloom varieties also were tracked down and now appear on seed racks and in catalogs.
[Photo: John A. Starnes Jr.]
The vines of the original sugar snap peas grow to about
4 feet long. Dwarf varieties do not need trellises.
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One cluster of those elegant blooms will perfume a room. Though some modern hybrids have brought back fragrance because of new breeding, I still swoon over two old strains, the magenta, pink and white "Painted Lady," and the deep blue and plum, 17th century stunner "Matucana." Be sure to pick plenty of bouquets to keep the vines blooming until the heat returns.
Try these sowing seasons: late October, December and a final one in February. This should provide a steady stream of delicious pods and startlingly sweet flowers.
-- John A. Starnes Jr., born in Key West, is an avid organic gardener and rosarian who studies, collects, cultivates and hybridizes roses for the diverse regions of Florida and Colorado. He can be reached at JohnAStarnes@aol.com.
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