Pretty Peas

I have never grown peas, well, hold on, I've grown my favorite flower, the Sweet Pea pea, but never peas specifically for eating. I've bought the seeds before, but never got them planted.

I planted peas in November, but should have planted them in September. And I only planted a few dozen seeds. Come to find out later, I should have been planting about 90 seeds per PERSON! Hmmmm... well, I'll know better next time, that's for sure.

It was like a treasure hunt looking for the pea pods. They are nearly invisible against the leaves of the plant so you have to stare for a long time to see them. Sometimes I'd stare and stare and thought I'd found every pod and then while I was watering in a different section of the garden from the distance I'd see another one.

At first I was having trouble knowing when to pick the pods. It didn't seem like the seeds were getting any bigger, and for a while I thought maybe I'd planted sugar snap peas, which are the kind you put in Asian dishes, or eat raw in salads.

Eventually the pods started getting plumper and tougher, and then it became more apparent when to pick them. All the pea plant wants to do is procreate. It flowers, start seeds and if it thinks it has succeeded, it will stop flowering. So it's important to pick the pods when the seeds are still young and fresh. That way, the pea plant puts out more flowers, to make more seeds. Flowers are the same way. If you want your flowers to keep flowering, snip off the flowers as they age - it's called deadheading.

I already know that anything fresh from the garden is much more delicious than from the store. Two vegetables that many people dislike are spinach and beets. But fresh from the garden? Words can't describe how mouthwateringly delicious they are in comparison to frozen or canned. Knowing this, I was very curious about the peas. I wasn't even sure how to cook fresh peas! I found a blog that said to bring the water to a boil, drop the peas in and let them cook from 10-30 seconds.

I'd harvested pea pods over about ten days and some peas were smaller than others. The picture above is one of several harvests. The smaller ones cooked faster and were done within 30 seconds, but the bigger ones hadn't changed color. As they cooked, the color changed from a pale green to bright green.

Dh and I each had a small bowl with just a touch of butter and sea salt. They were delicious! Next year I will plant plenty of peas in September. I already have the seeds purchased - I had my dates wrong in my seed planting guide and thought I could plant peas all the way up to March. I should have known, because I know that Sweet Pea flowers can only be planted from September 15 to October 15. I shouldn't forget this, especially since I updated my guide.

Until next time.