Shelling Peas - How to Grow, Harvest, and Store Them

[@tessafleetwood]

I loved shelling peas with my Granny! ... That was many years ago tho

[@ShootingtheSoil]

I fought powdery Mildew my whole life being an "organic gardener" in humid New England. Since I have switched to "Regenerative" I have not seen any PMD in last 3 years! and thanks for the pea harvesting brain refresher! Think I might freeze as I go so I don't have some starchy and some small this season.

[@ChristyWilhelmi]

Awesome to hear. Can you share what practices you implemented lead to this?

[@ShootingtheSoil]

@@ChristyWilhelmi LAB made from raw milk will wipe out PMD overnight(least it did when my dad had some PMD last year). Foliar sprayed. But mainly I find as long as there is a decent amount of fungal hyphae in the soil you don't see PMD. I increased my fungal to bacteria ratio with homemade Johnson Su compost just added to surface as well as compost extracts. Also used Rootwise and AEA Myco Genesis inoculants. I ditched all the NPK bottled fertilizers and only use Kelp and homemade Fish Amino Acid with a bit of worm castings here and there. Also minimal to no tillage. Over winter cover cropping really helps keep the soil and biology fed so not much is needed to be added come spring. (zone 7) and it saves a lot on mulch/straw!

[@Gardenerd]

@@ShootingtheSoil Yay! We've been touting the benefits of fungal-dominant soil for years, so glad to hear it's working for you in practice. With really alkaline soil here, it's hard to keep the fungal dominance going, but a 5" thick layer of mulch helps a lot. That said, we're low on mulch this year. :-). I've never tried the milk/water solution but I know people who swear by it. Better than baking soda, for sure. Thanks for sharing your tips!

[@ShootingtheSoil]

I have heard others say its the oomycetes and actinomycetes that lead to PMD,. Saprophytes and other fungi like AMF directly compete with them. And it seems lactic acid bacteria also do from my experience using LAB at my dads. Not to mention the medicinal properties, nutrient mobility and communication provided by beneficial fungi. Funny how fungi is natures solution but we are told to treat PMD with fungicide...

[@phoenixsky6124]

That freezer trick is brilliant! Thank u

[@sofiabaraklilis2666]

I just bought some green arrow peas to grow this year for the first time and I found this video so helpful. Thanks for posting! You make me excited to get started!

[@Gardenerd]

You're going to love Green Arrow peas. They're great. Glad you found this inspiring. Happy gardening.

[@darrybush5293]

I grow both the green pod and purple pod peas, the purple are so much easier to find when it’s time to harvest.

[@Gardenerd]

True! The green ones are like tomato hornworms!

[@theresehaas1190]

Thank you! I just winged growing them. Sounds like I did everything right but I do have them growing to close and found they are to close to trellises. I have accidentally pulled a couple trying to weed. Next year I’ll know better. But thanks about the tip on the tomatoes.

[@MandyMakesThat]

This was my first year growing peas and they have done well except they all of a sudden started turning yellow at the bases in our 32 C heat wave. I made sure to water daily and they yellow kept growing up the plants (now we are July 22) and the yellow parts are drying out. Is my plant dying off now? should I harvest all peas and pull the plants and re plant my fall crop? This was the best pea video I found, thank you! I also thoroughly enjoyed you casually shelling peas while talking.

[@Gardenerd]

Yellow usually indicates either too much water of not enough nitrogen. Heat can cause that kind of stress too. Not sure where you are located, but if you planted peas in early spring, maybe March (northern hemisphere) they would be finishing up around now anyway. If that's the case, it's not your fault. That's just their lifecycle. Harvest what you can to take some stress off the plant, and check the soil nutrient levels. Peas and beans don't usually need nitrogen because they make their own, so I'm guessing it's just end-of-life-cycle stuff.

[@MandyMakesThat]

@@Gardenerd Thank you! I am in Alberta Canada 4b zone and did plant early Spring!

[@jean39812]

Excellent. Thanks.

[@kimdearing3051]

i love green pea soup and have a large freezer. so, i am going to try to grow my own shelling peas . cheaper than buying campbells at 3 something a can.

[@Gardenerd]

It is definitely worth growing at home. We just used up the last of last year's peas from the freezer. Soups, curries, stews - they're all the perfect way to use them. Good luck and keep us posted.

[@friend757]

Thank you so much for this video.

[@Gardenerd]

You are so welcome!

[@marktoldgardengnome4110]

Very informative video. However, I was doing a search on why shelling peas develop pods but they don't plump up. We are retired and have never seen this before. We are in Maine and peas are always the 1st seeds sown and usually done by 1st of July. However, this year they were slow to germinate, when they did, they took off. But 5 weeks in and 4 feet tall with no blossoms. So we hit them with some bone meal. Boom, blooms everywhere and put on pods almost overnight. Now 3 weeks later still look like snow peas, not plumping up. It's like we've had to tell the Peas what to do every step of the way. Any ideas? We don't want to resort to canned peas or worse yet, go without. These are Green Arrows, from botanical interests. TY Mark n Rosa

[@Gardenerd]

I feel like Green Arrow peas take their darn time filling out. Then suddenly, boom! They don't usually need any feeding during the season, but maybe test your soil to see what's going on in there. I want to say, hang on a couple more weeks and you'll start to see them jump. I remember harvesting these late in the season because I thought I'd end up pulling them but then they took off.

[@phoenixsky6124]

MIgardener is great!

[@BonitaBeauvais-TX]

There is no blanching them first? I just found you and love your videos

[@Gardenerd]

I didn't blanch them first. Just freeze on a cookie sheet, then put in a bag for storage. If you're concerned about color change and loss of nutrients, you can blanch them. But I use so few in a recipe (maybe a cup at a time) that I don't worry about it. It's not worth the effort to me. If you throw them in a few minutes before the end of the cooking time, they're bright green and beautiful.

[@jpdutoit3383]

I would have liked to see how many peas you got from that bucket

[@Gardenerd]

That bucket filled about 2 1/2 one pound bags for my freezer when all was said and done. I didn't track it that well, and I know I had more harvests than that initial one, but we're still using the frozen peas from that harvest.

[@mamabearthrives7815]

3:36 This helped me tremendously!! 💪🫛💓 This is my first time growing shelling peas and I was confused because my first peas to poke out, look like snow peas 🤷‍♀️ but they were advertised as green arrow shelling peas and the pics on the reviews showed shelling peas🧐. When i watched your video, it gave me hope that mine will get fatter as they mature! 💓🫛-Nina, zone 10a central coast California,

[@ChristyWilhelmi]

So glad it helped! Good luck with your peas and keep us posted.

[@ginakendrick2581]

So my first bit of peace came in and I'm showing them but they have a little tiny stem they don't come completely off the pee does this mean I am harvesting too early the peas are a medium size they're not squashed together by any means I'm in Vermont Southern Vermont area and it is the first week of July I only had about 10 pods that looked ready

[@Gardenerd]

Sometimes the stem comes off with the pea. Nothing to worry about. Do a taste test to see if they are sweet enough for you, rather than starchy. That will be the best way to judge ripeness.

[@lavidadeunfranciscodiario6991]

Good morning how we doing where i can get those purple seed peas thanks

[@Gardenerd]

You can find the purple peas here: migardener.com/products/blue-shelling-snowpea

[@kevinwilson3337]

@@Gardenerd are these the same as dried green split peas ????

[@Gardenerd]

@@kevinwilson3337 From what I understand, the varieties grown for "split peas" are a field pea rather than a garden shelling pea. They are related, but different.

[@kevinwilson3337]

@@Gardenerd ok thanks, just wanted to know. I’m actually considering going vegan for health purposes

[@ginakendrick2581]

Sorry I tried to talk text the question

[@shaallen8412]

Cats work well for keeping rats 🐀 at bay

[@micchristi8533]

I knew I’d like your video in the first 10 seconds, just from the intro! I watched the rest of the video while shelling peas 🫛 💕🫛 💕🫛

[@Gardenerd]

Yay! Welcome to Gardenerd. We're happy to keep you company while you shell peas and garden.