You Bet Your Garden

It's a foine time a' year to be planting your peas
By Mike McGrath

Mike McGrath Yes, I am Irish. I am also a gardener and so must plant my peas on St. Patrick's Day for two reasons:

1) It is traditionally considered to be good luck to do so, and we gardeners need that luck more than normal people.

2) It's actually the right time of year to do so. Peas are the e-pea-to-me of a cool weather crop (i.e. they dies real fast when it gets hot, so if you want lots of pea pickin' you've got to get your seeds in the ground long before reasonable people would be willing to do so (see #1 above). Here's how:

Pick your peas! Well, choose 'em anyway. Do you want "standard," "English," "garden" or "shelling" peas (where you discard the pod and just eat the peas)? Or do you prefer sugar snap (super sweet, eat 'em pod and all) or my favorite, snow peas (sweet, flat pods, eat it all, great in stir fries, salads and eaten right off the vine)? Decide and buy the seeds now.

Pre-sprout! A couple days before St. Pat's, soak some paper towels in water, wring 'em out a little, wrap your pea seeds in 'em, and then put it all in a plastic bag, but don't seal it. Sprouts will soon appear.

Plant! On the 17th, dig a little trench next to a fence or trellis for support, toss in some nice finished compost, place the pea seeds on top (go ahead and crowd 'em -- they love it!), cover with soil, water well and then have a Guinness (the luck thing, remember?).

Be patient! Exactly when you see pea plants appear depends on the weather and your luck quotient, but appear they will. The plants will grow, flower and produce peas. Pick often -- the more you pick, the more peas the plants will produce!

If you want to show off, dust some 'pea and bean inoculant' in the trench when you plant. The beneficial bacteria therein will allow your plants to suck their own nitrogen food from the very air. Isn't that special?

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