Sugar Snap Peas... - Page 4

gardenmaniac · April 9, 2007

BTW: Oregon Sugar Pod II produces from beginning to end for about 3- 1/2 weeks.

Tiffanie

feldon30 · April 9, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardenmaniac

I have found out with a lot of experimenting that I can have peas fall, winter, and spring! I live in zone 8B so those of you in Houston (Feldon

) and the gulf coast might be able to do this too…

I can definitely see having success with staggered plantings September through February.

And if anyone asks, I will say I am fertilizing my garden beds.

I am growing Oregon Sugar Pod Little Marvel (sugar snap) and it is really only giving me a weeklong crop. Based on this experience, I will do all snow peas (Oregon Sugar Pod) next time.

gardenmaniac · April 10, 2007

Feldon, this link might be useful for you.

http://www.organicgardening.com/feat...16-183,00.html

Perhaps your production was down for OSP because your temps were above 75F. I know ours were and so all my peas finished at the same time last week despite different planting times. Were you growing the I or II version? It seems like they both produce about the same amount of snow peas, but the OSPII has more disease resistance. I have about a 3-1/2' long area where the peas are planted on both sides of a 3' trellis 2 inches apart (yes, you can even do 1 inch apart). I probably got more than 4 gallon bags full of snow peas from that one sowing. And no, I did not load it with fertilizer. I only fed it a general purpose home-made organic fertilizer about halfway through its' growing cycle.

I always have lower shell pea production, but they are a different beast

. I am willing to put up with lowered production because they are just so yummy!

Tiffanie

feldon30 · April 10, 2007

These were My snow peas are Oregon Sugar Pod with no II suffix. My sugar snaps are Little Marvel.

I didn't see any signs of disease except one of my snow pea plants did yellow and the pods it produced had little bumps on them.

I think the snow peas shut down when they intended to. I got over 3 quarts out of a 4' x 4' plot. The sugar snaps, I think they really need to be planted 2-3 weeks earlier than the snow peas since you have to wait for the pods to set AND mature. It's a learning experience.

That's a great article. Based on that, I might be tempted to grow both Oregon Sugar Pod and Mammoth since the Oregon Sugar Pods are definitely smaller than I'm used to. I would plant the Mammoth on the 1st of November so they are producing mid-January to mid-February. Still, I really like the snow peas and they serve just about the same purpose. I might grow a shelling pea like Thomas Laxton or Green Arrow as I love English peas. And I intend to experiment with vining varieties for extended harvest.

gardenmaniac · April 10, 2007

Feldon, the Oregon Sugar Pods are snow peas. I guess I'm a little confused by the last paragraph of your post

. I still think your OSP shut down early. You should have had way more than three quarts for a 4'x4' area and longer production. My planting area is 3- 1/2 feet long and 4 inches wide and I got over 4 gallons of pea pods. I will post a pic tonight of my spent vines that are paritially ripped out so you can see my set up anyway. The plants are dead now

.

I just tried 'Dual' this year and wasn't too impressed by it. I will grow it again next year since I have more seeds before I write it off. It is a shelling pea that did not like warm temps at all and produced a very small crop. 'Wando' has done much better for me.

I haven't grown the sugar snaps in a while because I have some organic farmer friends that grow them so I just buy in bulk from them.

Tiffanie

feldon30 · April 10, 2007

OOPS!

My snow peas: Oregon Sugar Pod
My sugar snap peas: Little Marvel

My peas get lots of sun (more than the tomatoes). The soil is sandy with lots of peat and I added about 80 lbs of compost to it.

I am curious what you added to the soil and what, if any, fertilization scheme you used?

I started my peas this year about 4 weeks later than the local recommendations.

gardenmaniac · April 11, 2007

My soil is a mix called locally as “Ginger mix”. Ginger refers a man’s last name, not the plant. Anyway, it is a mixture of pine bark chips (tiny), sand, mushroom compost, and topsoil. I got it by the semi, so I’m not sure the exact portions, but I believe it was one tractor bucket-full of each- mixed well and repeated. Anyway, the soil is four years aged and used amended only with organic materials (compost from home, black cow, and composted seaweed) and usually top dressed halfway through the growth cycle by a generic organic garden fertilizer produced locally including ground up sea creature by-products from the coast. Synthetic fertilizers are not needed. Next year I will get a dump truck of just mushroom compost to rejuvenate the garden soil. We do not have good mulch alternatives to pine straw here, so I don’t have the luxury of it helping my soil. I use pine straw and then in the fall, rake off the sun-pulverized bits onto our garden path so it doesn’t alter the garden pH too much.

Your late planting (and early warm weather) probably had more to do with your production than your soil and fertilizing. It sounds like your soil is optimal and that environmental conditions were more of a factor. I don’t know about Houston, but this year we have had at least three weeks of 80F temps. After the third week, my plants said “Forget it!” and started browning from the bottom (as you see in the picture) and stopped producing flowers and started focusing on maturing the pods no matter how small they were

. My last snow pea crop was planted at the end of December. The shelling peas were planted late the third week of January. I only got a cup of shelled peas from that planting- the warm weather came too soon

.

Sorry about hijacking this thread, but it is about peas…

Tiffanie

feldon30 · April 11, 2007

Not a hijack at all!

Timing, as they say, is everything.

I really wish I'd grown some good tomato varieties last year in the right soil, in the right place in the yard, because temps and rainfall were optimal. This year is just --- strange.

feldon30 · April 27, 2007

and STILL the snow peas are rolling in! I must be well past 7 quarts at this point. I am getting a handful every day. And the best part is the snow peas are getting a bit bigger now.

duajones · April 27, 2007

looking good, that will make for a nice snack

gardenmaniac · May 2, 2007

Beautiful picture! The snow peas are the main crop of peas for us. They just keep going and going... I think we lost our last crop due to lack of water more than the heat. We are in a major drought! My whole garden is suffering...

Tiffanie

**nctomatoman** · May 2, 2007

My Sugar Sprint snap peas are now flowering....they will be our next crop, as our lettuce and chard roll in. Fun Time! (just planted our mexico Midget and Sungold tomatoes - we tend to get them in 40-45 days from transplant, so not too much more time to wait!)

feldon30 · May 3, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by feldon30

My beans are all up now. I planted 3 varieties and staggered them a bit. I'm thinking that if someone played their cards right, it should be possible to have non-stop legumes from February through June in Houston with staggered planting of shelling peas, snow peas (bush or pole), sugar snaps (bush or pole), then bush beans, and finally pole beans. And that's not to mention shelling beans like Rattlesnake, Dragon's Tongue (great as a fresh or dried bean) which can go through July.

Well, if you can believe it, not only are the snow peas continuing to crank out (I picked 2 handfuls yesterday), but Dragon Tongue is already giving me a crop!

Yesterday I was looking at my Dragon Tongue beans from a distance and noticed a few little beans and said to myself "Won't be long now." When I inspected the plants more closely today, I found 2 handfuls of beans ready to pick. They weren't all what I consider full sized, but going on the premise that early picking will encourage the plant to set more beans, I picked them from medium (pencil thick and 3-5" long) to large (1/2" thick and 5-7" long). I won't dare let them get to XL (1" thick and 7-9" long) until later in the season.

Anyway, I promptly steamed them (to go with my baby back ribs that I did on the smoker today). It just reminded me that these are a superior, productive bean. It has a distinctive texture going down and tastes like it's already been buttered. It will always have a place in my garden. Yes, it loses its color when steamed, fading from yellow with purple streaks to a yellowish-tan, but that doesn't take away the flavor one bit!

Will post pictures soon. I have to run in and out between the torrential downpours to get decent photos.

Adenn1 · May 3, 2007

I finished my last bag of frozen beans a while back...darn it Feldon...I am hungry now.

feldon30 · May 4, 2007

and still they come...

Should I start another topic for beans?

to this:

April 10, 2007	#49
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	These were My snow peas are Oregon Sugar Pod with no II suffix. My sugar snaps are Little Marvel. I didn't see any signs of disease except one of my snow pea plants did yellow and the pods it produced had little bumps on them. I think the snow peas shut down when they intended to. I got over 3 quarts out of a 4' x 4' plot. The sugar snaps, I think they really need to be planted 2-3 weeks earlier than the snow peas since you have to wait for the pods to set AND mature. It's a learning experience. That's a great article. Based on that, I might be tempted to grow both Oregon Sugar Pod and Mammoth since the Oregon Sugar Pods are definitely smaller than I'm used to. I would plant the Mammoth on the 1st of November so they are producing mid-January to mid-February. Still, I really like the snow peas and they serve just about the same purpose. I might grow a shelling pea like Thomas Laxton or Green Arrow as I love English peas. And I intend to experiment with vining varieties for extended harvest. Last edited by feldon30; April 10, 2007 at 07:08 PM.

May 2, 2007	#57
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	My Sugar Sprint snap peas are now flowering....they will be our next crop, as our lettuce and chard roll in. Fun Time! (just planted our mexico Midget and Sungold tomatoes - we tend to get them in 40-45 days from transplant, so not too much more time to wait!) __________________ Craig

May 3, 2007	#59
Adenn1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philly Posts: 559	I finished my last bag of frozen beans a while back...darn it Feldon...I am hungry now. __________________ Mark

April 9, 2007	#46
gardenmaniac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: North Florida Posts: 82	BTW: Oregon Sugar Pod II produces from beginning to end for about 3- 1/2 weeks. Tiffanie

April 11, 2007	#52
gardenmaniac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: North Florida Posts: 82	My soil is a mix called locally as “Ginger mix”. Ginger refers a man’s last name, not the plant. Anyway, it is a mixture of pine bark chips (tiny), sand, mushroom compost, and topsoil. I got it by the semi, so I’m not sure the exact portions, but I believe it was one tractor bucket-full of each- mixed well and repeated. Anyway, the soil is four years aged and used amended only with organic materials (compost from home, black cow, and composted seaweed) and usually top dressed halfway through the growth cycle by a generic organic garden fertilizer produced locally including ground up sea creature by-products from the coast. Synthetic fertilizers are not needed. Next year I will get a dump truck of just mushroom compost to rejuvenate the garden soil. We do not have good mulch alternatives to pine straw here, so I don’t have the luxury of it helping my soil. I use pine straw and then in the fall, rake off the sun-pulverized bits onto our garden path so it doesn’t alter the garden pH too much. Your late planting (and early warm weather) probably had more to do with your production than your soil and fertilizing. It sounds like your soil is optimal and that environmental conditions were more of a factor. I don’t know about Houston, but this year we have had at least three weeks of 80F temps. After the third week, my plants said “Forget it!” and started browning from the bottom (as you see in the picture) and stopped producing flowers and started focusing on maturing the pods no matter how small they were . My last snow pea crop was planted at the end of December. The shelling peas were planted late the third week of January. I only got a cup of shelled peas from that planting- the warm weather came too soon . Sorry about hijacking this thread, but it is about peas… Tiffanie

April 27, 2007	#54
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	and STILL the snow peas are rolling in! I must be well past 7 quarts at this point. I am getting a handful every day. And the best part is the snow peas are getting a bit bigger now.

April 27, 2007	#55
duajones Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Corpus Christi,Texas Z9 Posts: 1,996	looking good, that will make for a nice snack

May 4, 2007	#60
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	and still they come... Should I start another topic for beans? to this: