Peas, Please! The Clever Little Climbers in Your Garden
There is something wonderfully satisfying about growing peas. Maybe it's their delicate flowers, their fresh green color, or the fact that a handful of peas picked straight from the garden can disappear before they ever make it into the kitchen. But peas are also fascinating plants. They have a few tricks up their stems (and roots) that make them particularly interesting to gardeners. So let’s get to it:
A Little About Legumes
Peas belong to the Fabaceae family or less formally, the legume family, along with beans, lentils, chickpeas and peanuts. Legumes are particularly interesting because of their relationship with bacteria in the soil. Certain bacteria live in nodules on the roots of legumes and help convert atmospheric nitrogen into forms the plant can use. This process, called nitrogen fixation, is one reason legumes are such an important part of agriculture and healthy soil systems. It's a fascinating relationship: the plant provides the bacteria with energy, and the bacteria help make nitrogen available to the plant. All of this is happening underground while we're standing above the soil wondering waiting for the flowers to bloom.
Gardening is full of things happening that we can't see.
The part we usually notice, of course, is what happens above the soil. And one of the first things you’ll notice when your peas get above 3 inches high - peas like to climb.
If you're growing a vining pea variety, give it a trellis. Seriously. Don't plant your peas and then think, I'll figure out the trellis later.
Ask me how I know.
Peas are climbers, and they are going to look for something to grab onto. A trellis, fence, netting or other support gives them somewhere to go. It doesn’t have to be a fancy trellis - one of my favorite things to trellis peas on is a tomato cage.
And this is where things get really interesting. Let’s dive into a little more science. How do those peas climb? They don't have little hands. They don't have eyes. They can't look around the garden and say, Ah! There's my trellis. So how do they find it?
Meet Thigmotropism
Thigmotropism is a plant's growth response to touch. The word sounds complicated, but the concept is actually pretty simple. Touch a pea tendril to a support, and it responds by curling around it. The tendril doesn't just randomly wrap itself around whatever happens to be nearby. Contact triggers a growth response, causing the tendril to curl and grasp the support.
It's almost as if the pea is saying: "Oh! Something to hold onto!” And off it goes.
How to Grow Peas
Peas are generally a cool-season crop, which makes them a wonderful addition to a fall or early spring garden. For gardeners in Zones 8–9, timing is especially important because our summers (Hardiness zones 8-9) can be far too hot for peas.
1. Choose Your Pea
There are several types of peas you can grow. English peas, also called garden or shelling peas, are grown for the peas inside the pod. Snap peas have edible pods and are delicious eaten fresh. Snow peas are harvested while the pods are still flat and are commonly used in stir-fries. All three can be wonderful choices for a kitchen garden.
2. Pick the Right Spot
Peas prefer full sun and well-drained soil. Give them a place where they can receive plenty of sunlight and where water doesn't sit around their roots. And remember your trellis! Put the support in place before the plants get large enough to need it. Your future self will thank you.
3. Plant the Seeds
Peas have better growth outcome if planted directly in the garden, rather than transplanted. Follow the seed packet for planting depth and spacing, but generally peas are planted about 1–2 inches deep and I plant them 2-3 inches apart. Keep the soil consistently moist while the seeds are germinating and the plants are getting established.
Then watch for those first little shoots, then the tendrils, then the flowers, and then the delicious little pods that rarely make it into the kitchen before getting eaten.
The Joy of Growing Food
I think that's what keeps gardening interesting, even after years of doing it. There is always another layer. You can simply plant peas because you enjoy eating them. Or you can become curious about what is happening beneath the soil. You can notice the relationship between legumes and soil. You can pay attention to the way a pea tendril responds to touch.
And learn a new word and impress all your friends - Thigmotropism. It just rolls off the tongue.
And suddenly, the garden you've walked through a hundred times looks a little different. That's one of the gifts of gardening. The more we learn, the more there is to notice. And perhaps that's why peas deserve a little more attention than we usually give them. They aren't just a cool-season vegetable climbing a trellis. They're a small reminder that the garden is alive with relationships, responses and remarkable little bits of science.
And, of course, they're delicious.
Which is really the best kind of science.
A GardenWise Thought
The garden doesn't always announce its lessons. Sometimes you have to slow down, look closely and notice what the plants are doing.
Plant a pea.
Give it something to climb.
And watch what happens.
