Learn the peas to success for St. Patrick’s Day

Meet Mike!

蜜桃视频app Garden Editor Mike McGrath will be at the on March 18 and 19.

Peas for St. Pat鈥檚

The fact that March 17 comes on a Friday this year is a boon for bars 鈥� or maybe it鈥檚 a bigger boon for employers who won鈥檛 have to watch half of their Monday-Friday workers cling to the edge of their desks the next day.

For the real Irish, it’s often a time to stay home and let the amateurs have the pubs for a night. And for gardeners, it’s the supposed 鈥渓ucky day鈥� to plant their peas. But pea planting on St. Pat’s often means a different kind of luck, as the odds are close to 100 percent that it will be much too cold to sprout any seeds.

Peas have the “shortest window” of any plant

How did St. Patrick鈥檚 Day become the “lucky day” for gardeners to pant their peas? Simple math. Peas are the ultimate “short-window,” cold-weather-loving spring crop, flourishing in the weather of an average June but withering to a crisp by the Fourth of July.

That means timing is everything.

Let鈥檚 use the popular and quick-to-produce, “edible podded” variety Super Snap as an example: It has a “days to maturity” rating of a little over two months, which means that you need all of April and May for growing time before you get your first peas to pick in early June. And those plants are only going to produce reliably in June, so getting the sprouts up in March could give you an extra 10 days or so of picking time.

But again, the odds are strong that the seeds won鈥檛 sprout in the cold soil of March.

That鈥檚 why savvy gardeners cheat. And remembers kids: Cheaters always win.

The ultimate pea cheat

Growing your own fresh peas is a difficult task to master. Whether you grow the kinds of peas that you eat, pod and all (such as snow peas and snap peas), or the 鈥淓nglish鈥� types you “shell” out of their pods to get to the individual little sweeties inside, they鈥檙e going to take 60 to 75 days to produce their first tasty treats 鈥� and that鈥檚 from germination of the plants, not from the day you plant the seeds, especially if the soil is cold.

But again, heat-sensitive pea vines burn up quickly after June is over, making this timing intensely tricky. That鈥檚 why I always “cheat” by pre-sprouting my pea seeds indoors and then planting the sprouts (or young plants) outside. (And yes, often on St. Pat鈥檚.)

The seeds won鈥檛 sprout in cold soil, but the plants don鈥檛 mind low temps one bit. They鈥檒l even survive a little dusting of white precipitation. (Why do you think they call those tastiest little ones “snow peas”?)

Pre-sprouting 101

Want to make sure you get some tasty eating from your snow, snap or English shelling peas before summer heat burns up the vines? Pre-sprout the seeds indoors. There are two easy ways:

Roll the seeds out onto several layers of moist paper towels (not “just a little damp” and not sopping wet. Shoot for that Goldilocks moment in the middle). Then put the towels into a zip-lock or similar plastic bag, but don鈥檛 close the top tightly, just fold it over. Let the bag sit out at room temperature and check the seeds daily. As soon as the seeds sprout 鈥� which should take about four to five days 鈥� plant them outside in your warmest, loosest soil.

Or fill biodegradable little peat pots with seed starting mix. saturate the mix by sitting the pots in an inch or two of water for an hour or so. Plant two seeds in each pot (in case one is a dud) and place the pots on a baking pan. Stretch clear plastic over the top and add water to the bottom of the pan when needed (which might be daily) to keep the pots from drying out. (They don鈥檛 need any kind of light yet, just room temperature warmth.) Plant them outdoors 鈥� 鈥減ots and all鈥� 鈥� when the sprouts are a few days old. (Make sure the lip of each pot is under the soil line.)

Pea sprouting Ph.D.

Pick the area you intend to “pea plant” and cover it with clear plastic (1-2mm thick is ideal) about a week in advance to warm the soil. Hold the edges down with some bricks or pavers. Remove the plastic right before planting and don鈥檛 put it back.

Oh, and be sure to provide sturdy support for full-size vines: Some of the best English shelling peas reach 8-feet-tall. (But they鈥檙e self-supporting if you provide the right kind of trellis for them to cling to.)

If you鈥檙e tight on space or container gardening, grow compact “bush-style” varieties instead 鈥� they tend to top out at around two or three feet tall and still need some support, but just a little bit of support. (Despite the “bush” designation, they鈥檙e still vines.)

It’s opening day in Philly

The loud noise you heard this morning was not most of Foggy Bottom waking up with a Sainted hangover. It was the thunderous hoards descending on the City of Brotherly Love for the first day of this year鈥檚 .

The oldest and largest indoor flower show in the world runs March 11-19 and this season celebrates Holland, both for its horticulture and emphasis on sustainability. This will be the first appearance of Holland鈥檚 famed “bio-dome” outside of the Netherlands. (And weren鈥檛 windmills the original renewable energy source?)

I have lectured at the Philly Show since 1990 and will also be there this year doing a lively Q&A in the Gardener鈥檚 Studio showcase at 4 p.m., Wednesday. That鈥檚 30,000 tulips, a bio-dome and me.

Insider tip: The show is most crowded in the morning, when hundreds of busloads of flower-lovers arrive from all over the Northeast. It begins to thin out around 3 p.m. and by 5 p.m., you can walk right up to even the most popular exhibits. So show up in the early afternoon, look around a bit, get your hand stamped for free re-entry, go out and get a bite to eat in the famous Reading Terminal Market across the street (or the nearby Panera, Hard Rock Caf茅 or Magianno鈥檚. Or at any one of the dozens of great restaurants in Chinatown 鈥� which is just a block or so to the east and north) then come back and really see everything up close. The show is open until 9 p.m.

Online tickets are much less expensive than at the door and you won鈥檛 have to wait in line.

Mike McGrath was Editor-in-Chief of ORGANIC GARDENING magazine from 1990 through 1997. He has been the host of the nationally syndicated Public Radio show “You Bet Your Garden” since 1998 and Garden Editor for 蜜桃视频app since 1999. Send him your garden or pest control questions at MikeMcG@PTD.net.

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