Sugar snap peas are a healthy vegetable for the garden and balcony. Harvesting, cultivation and care do not make great demands on the gardener.
Harvest sugar snap peas
When harvesting, the time of harvest is of great importance: if the gardener harvests the sugar snap peas too early, they are immature. If harvested too late, the pods will be fibrous and dry. To ensure that harvesting is successful, the following points should be observed:
- Harvest time: eight to ten weeks after sowing, depending on the variety; usually from June.
- Recognize the right time: small grains are visible under the husk and stand out.
- Pluck pods by hand.
- Harvest ripe pods regularly every two to three days – encourages formation of new pea pods.
- Gain seed: do not harvest all pods, but allow to mature; remove dried peas from plant and store dry for next year.
- After last harvest: cut plants just above ground; provide roots substrate with nitrogen.
- Uses: Sugar snap peas, unlike beans, can also be eaten raw; cooking possible.
- Cultivation – location, soil and other requirements
Sugar snap peas can be grown by the gardener both in the garden and in the tub. In order for the plants to thrive, their requirements should be taken into account:
- Choose humus and loose soil that is not prone to waterlogging.
- Choose a sunny location that is protected from the weather.
- Enrich the bed with potash fertilizer or compost; avoid manure.
- Cultivation on balcony and terrace possible: Cultivation in sufficiently large planters.
Tips for sowing
Whether Carouby de Maussane, Edula or Dehéve – seeds for different varieties can be obtained by the gardener in garden stores, nurseries or online. Do not sow seeds that are more than three years old; they often do not germinate.
- Pre-swell seeds in water one day before sowing – promotes germination.
- Sowing possible from mid-April.
- Loosen soil before sowing.
- Make three centimeter deep furrows in the prepared soil.
- Sow seeds ten centimeters apart.
- Cover seeds lightly with soil.
- Mix with carrots, lettuce, radishes, radishes.
- Guaranteed fresh pods until late summer: reseed at two-week intervals until early July.
- Proper care of sugar snap peas
When it comes to care, peas are not very demanding. A climbing aid provides the necessary support:
- Use a climbing aid for young plants that are ten centimeters high: to do this, stick posts or branches into the ground and cover them with wire mesh or wire.
- Water young plants every day; water older plants only when the soil is dry.
- Avoid waterlogging.
- Inspect pea plants for pests and diseases.
- Remove weeds around plants and loosen soil regularly.
- Sweet peas – harvest and consume quickly.
Harvesting, growing and caring for sugar snap peas takes little effort. Use pods promptly after harvest – long storage makes them bitter and mealy.
