SNOW PEAS (Pisum sativum var. saccharatum)

 

At this time of the year, one of my joys is to have Snow Peas stir fried with pork or chicken for dinner.  Snow peas are hard to find in the supermarkets as they do not last well and are expensive when you do find them.  In the tropics, Snow peas only grow well in the winter months so they are an annual event for me.  Every fall, I plant several pea seeds in a large 20 gal. container and push in some long, skinny, dead tree branches to form a trellis for the plants to grow up.  Not all the seeds will grow strong but at least half of them will grow and I have enough peas to give me a weekly treat in the winter.  

I pick three or four peas daily as they grow big enough and put them in a small ziplock plastic bag in the fridge until I have enough for a meal for one.  I do not let the peas grow really big because I like them smaller and sweeter.  I am also on the watch out for bird damage.  If I see the tell tale V beak marks on the pods it is time to cover the peas with netting.  So far, I have not had a problem with birds this year, but it just takes one bird to figure out where he can get a sweet treat and show the others.  When picking the peas, you need to be very careful to not damage the growing points on the plant shoots.  The easiest way to prevent this is to use scissors to cut the pods off.  At the end of the season, I leave a few pods on the plant to mature and dry out to use as seed for the next winter.  As with all container vegetables, I started off with well turned soil mix with compost added and then I give extra fertilizer every few weeks once the flowering starts.  One also needs to watch that the soil is not getting so dried out that the plants are getting stressed.  Only a few weeks ago we were having flooding rains but now suddenly the weather is quite dry and I am having to watch the kitchen garden like it is already summer.

Aloha