Family
Fabaceae
Botanical Name
Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon 'Oregon Sugar Pod Ii'
Plant Common Name
Oregon Sugar Pod Snow Pea, Snow Pea
General Description
The dwarf snow pea, 'Oregon Sugar Pod II', was developed at Oregon State University and is prized for its disease resistance as well as good pod production and short stature. Its young shoots, flowers and young green pods are all edible. The mild-tasting pods are large and nearly stringless if harvested when young and tender. This pea is self-fertile and produces loads of pods early. Days to harvest depend on which part of the plant is harvested. Pea shoots can be harvested in 25 to 30 days, flowers in 40 to 45 days and immature snow pea pods in 65 to 70 days. Plant a few seeds at weekly intervals for a longer harvest season.
Few cool season crops are as satisfying and welcome in spring as the humble garden pea. Peas have been cultivated for their edible seeds and pods for thousands of years. Their area of origin is thought to be the eastern Mediterranean region, including Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, where wild pea plants still exist. These herbaceous annuals are grown for their immature, or mangetout, pea pods that are crisp, sweet and flat. Fresh snow peas are favored in Asian cooking and easy to grow in the garden.
This annual vine is covered with red-tinted, pale green, compound leaves with rounded leaflets arranged in pairs on the leaf stem. The leaves are tipped with branched, curled tendrils that curl around objects and help the fine pea stems climb. The reddish pink pea flowers are lightly fragrant. Each has a large, rounded upper petal subtended by smaller central petals that form a lip, or keeled beak. The blooms are produced in loose clusters on short stems among the foliage.
Full sun and rich, friable soil with good drainage is needed for vigorous growth and fruit set. Peas are cool season vegetables, so in the north temperate zones they are planted in early spring as soon as the soil is workable or in fall, once temperatures are cool again. In southern, frost-free zones they are planted in winter. Pea seeds should be directly sown in the ground because seedlings do not transplant well. Overwatering seeds before they germinate can lead to seed rot, so be sure to keep them moderately moist, never wet.
Like many members of the bean family, peas have a mutually beneficial relationship with a bacterium called Rhizobium, which allows plants to add nitrogen to the soil. Seeds and plants often do better if tossed in a commercially available Rhizobium inoculum before planting.
