Peas are noted to be a "cold weather crop but it is a bit early for zone 6. I have found better germination and higher yields if I wait until the soil warms into the 50's. I grow super sugar snaps and get great results growing in raised beds. Use a pea innoculant. Place seeds in a zip lock bag with a few drops of water and a bit of the innoculant. Shake and then plant. I use the Jim Crockett method scattering seed in a six-8 inch wide trench and I grow on nylon netting with additional twine support as needed as your prevailing winds direct.
Happy Pea Pickin.

Hi there. I don't grow peas, but I just read an interesting article in 'Organic Gardening' about dissolving a Vitamin C tablet (150mg) in water, then soaking your pea seeds for 24 hours. Germination rates were much higher, and plants yielded 40% more...???
Just a thot....

I was just out working on our new pea bed with my hubby. We plan to do one tower of peas the normal way, and one the vitamin-C way, for comparison. I think he intends to get the seeds in the ground by next weekend.

Stoloniferous..let us know the results of your testing, citizen science is always good :-)
As Sconticut says, the soil is not warm enough for peas yet..

You can get an idea of soil temperatures in MA from the UMass Landscape Message.

UMass Landscape Message March 6, 2008

Scroll down to the Environmental Data table - even in the Cape and southeast regions the temps were only about 35 to 40 degrees.

Claire

We always planted our peas 3/17 to 4/1. I'm shooting for April 1. But thanks for the link, Claire.

My husband's peas are already soaking, so it looks like we'll be planting them week whether or not the soil temp is ideal. :) We will be sure to document everything!

Also remember that peas are critter magnets. They like the sweet taste as much as we do.

So, how did the experiment work out? Were your pea yields increased? I am also wondering if anyone has tried soaking the peas in some combination of orange juice and water, since orange juice is high in both vitamin c and folic acid, I am wondering if it would provide similar benefits to the vitamin tablet. Has anyone tried it?

Wow, veg, thanks for bringing this post back. I'm curious about stoloniferous's vitamin c test, too. But ... I haven't seen her around here for awhile.

I hadn't read this last year. Interesting idea. I just planted pea seeds in cell packs this afternoon, after soaking in water. I have another tripod that I am planting more on, so I will try soaking the next batch in the orange juice for an experiment. I love experiments and this looks like an easy one.

pm2

I did the experiment too. I divided my package of peas in half and soaked one half in water and one half in water/orange juice combination. I planted them on Saturday. I can't wait to see how this works! prairiemoon2- please report back with your results later so we can compare :)

Just for the heck of it I soaked one packet of peas in some Emergen-C last night. I'm going to break out the rain gear and get them in the ground this afternoon. I'll plant the other packet in a few weeks and post the results at the end of the harvest. I would love to hear how everyone else's harvest turned out as well. I'm growing the 30" vines but would still like to trellis them with something homemade. Any interesting pictures/designs out there? I've got tons of sticks and twine.

I've planted my first batch without oj but nothing coming up yet. I am also waiting to stagger harvest and will soak the next batch in oj.

:-)