Decide whether you are going to plant for succession or for all-at-once harvesting. If you don't want all the peas to be ready at once, plant a section once a week from now until about the end of March -depends on the weather -- keep on planting until the soil reaches 70* at 5" down. Your last couple plantings may not produce well but it is worth trying because about 3 years out of 5 you will get a nice late harvest.

While peas prefer cool air for seed production, they also prefer warmer-than-cool soil to sprout. I get around this by making 6" high raised rows which are covered with rowcover. When I'm ready to plant (soil temp over 55*), I pound in metal stakes along the middle of the row and then attach plastic-covered wire fencing (2x3" mesh) with ties. The planting furrow is about 3" deep and has a 1" layer of medium vermiculite put in the bottom. The pea seed is spaced about 1" apart on top of the vermiculite, and then covered with 1 1/2" of soil, pressed down firmly. The vermiculite retains just enough moisture to help the pea sprout while permitting excess water to drain away. If I remember, I'll let the peaseed soak in some strong tea for an hour before planting... the sprouting ratio does seem to be a bit higher; unfortunately I've gotten to the age where I'm more likely to drink the tea than to put the seed in it. Do inoculate the peas just before planting - if you don't already have the inoculate, get a small packet at a nursery/garden center, it's worth every penny. I replace the row cover until the plants are about 3" tall -- if you have a squirrel problem, you should secure the row cover so that the squirrels don't dig up the pea seed. This sort of squirrel-proofing can involve some very imaginative thinking, but wire mesh laid over the cover works until the peas actually sprout. Check the plants every day or two and weave the stems into the fencing as the vines grow. The seed packet gives the # of days to harvest, but weather can change that figure by a week or two.

Okay, you asked about starting in pots. I don't because A)peas want cooler conditions than I can provide indoors and B) I don't have enough space for as many pots as would be needed and C) they prefer to grow outside so as to have enough room to stretch their roots. Otherwise, you can start some pots inside in a very cool room and then transplant out when the soil is at least 55*. You may or may not gain a week for an earlier harvest -- and the chances are so 50-50 that I really don't think it's worth the bother.

You will notice I give soil temperatures, not dates. In my z6b garden- with row cover used - the soil on the protected south side will likely be over 55* in the next week; on the open east side, it will likely be another 2 weeks. The oldie's rule of thumb is to plant on GW's birthday (2-22), but I think the seeds are more interested in the soil temperature than in the calendar.

Do those same rules apply for sweet peas? I have had no luck planting them because I think I always plant them too late. I've seen that some people recommend winter sowing, but I thought sweet peas hate to be moved/transplanted.

I haven't raised sweet peas for ages, but I too had trouble getting them to sprout. An elderly friend is the one who recommended soaking them for an hour in strong tea before planting, and she put sand in the row for the seed to sit on. While that did improve the ratio of sprouts, I really think the seeds want slightly warmer soil than green peas; my best success always came when I was late getting them into the ground - which means the soil itself was warmer than we usually think of for peas -- OTOH, "warm soil" for peas is still much too cool for beans.

It would be interesting to do an experiment with planting the seeds at weekly intervals, recording the soil temp, and seeing which ones sprouted best.

Thanks, Meldy, for the detailed response---much appreciated! I think I'll definitely try the succession-sowing experiment and try to keep good records about my success rate.......

That's interesting about soaking the seeds in TEA ahead of time. I do generally soak hard seeds like moonflower for a few hours before I plant them. I'll try it with the pea seeds. I wonder if the type of tea matters?? I've always heard that watering seedlings with mild chamomile tea helps to ward off damping off. Perhaps that's the thinking behind the tea---maybe something in tea nudges things along.........

I'll definitely buy the innoculant, too......

Like threeorangeboys, I'm also trying sweet peas this year. Haven't had much luck in the past, but I'm experimenting with four or five different varieties this time and plan to jot down how each fares, based on different sowing times and methods. I'm trying a bushy type, a couple of short vine types, and a long vine type.

Thanks again!

Sprouting both "English" peas and sweet peas has worked well for me. Sweet peas respond when planted early to sand around them, but then mulch once they are up.
I sprout them in coffee filter inserted in a plastic bag or use a seed sprouter originally purchased for edible sprouts.

Thanks, Dave, for the tip about presprouting methods. Funny you should mention the coffee filter method---I was just looking at my filters this morning as I was pouring my first cup of the day, thinking that I should use a few for sprouting seeds!

So, I put them in the ground back during that ridiculously warm spell as I thought they would want to take advantage of any cold that happened. NOw of course, it is insanely cold and will be even colder next week. Are they toast, do you think?

Toss a coin -- no, better would be to check the soil temperature. I don't think our cold spell will kill them, but it will certainly delay their desire to sprout. Cover the planted rows with a couple layers of row-cover to help keep the soil a bit warmer. If the soil temp is under 50* -which is probable at this time - put some clear plastic over the row cover to keep extra warmth in. Just don't forget to remove the plastic as soon as you see some sprouts; otherwise you'll have solar-cooked sprouts. Pea greenery can stand some miserably cold temps, but the roots prefer spring-like conditions.

Ahh. Interesting. Okay- I will do that this weekend. I have never had luck with them. Worried I have lost allllll those sweet peas I planted in January. UGH!

I always remember an idea I saw, maybe in Organic Gardening, back in the early 70s: some guy from Michigan (?) said he went out in the coldest winter after the ground was frozen but bare of snow. He took his electric drill, drilled a 1" hole in the hard ground, dropped a pea in, and drilled the next hole in the row. And so on, and so on. I don't recall how he filled in the holes. FWIW. "Don't worry, have a homebrew."

Wow- so that would suggest that they can certainly take the cold weather!

Ha, ha, I did the same thing that threeorangeboys did---planted a bunch of short-vined sweet pea seeds just before the frigid temps hit! I've got one batch outside, and one batch in a container in my snow-covered coldframe. I can hardly wait to see how they fare once things begin to warm up again.......

I'm curious how everyone's peas fared... I'm going to put some in in about a month and see how they do :)

Also, I read on Virginia Tech's website that all seeds benefit from being sprouted first.

My peas came up over the weekend! I'm so excited :D I planted four kinds of southern (black-eyed) peas, two kinds of sugar snaps, and three kinds of English peas.