Portrait of the climbing pea: origin and cultivation

Peas and sugar peas are becoming increasingly popular. We'll show you how to grow these delicious vegetables in your own garden.

Even if many people only know the peas (Pisum sativum) from the freezer shelf of the local supermarket, the vegetable has a long tradition. Archaeological finds reach back over 10,000 years BC. Chr. return. Although it is quite difficult to distinguish collected wild peas from wild peas cultivated at the time, the rapid spread of the peas indicates that they were being cultivated in a targeted manner. Finds show that as early as 7,000 - 8,000 BC. Chr. the pea was common in Anatolia, Bulgaria and Cyprus.

Of the Cultivation occurs predominantly in moderate climates. It is therefore not surprising that Canada accounts for around a third of the world's harvest. The Association for the Preservation of Crop Diversity, based in Germany. V. (VEN) selected the pea as Vegetable of the Year 2009.

Growing peas properly

Peas like to have it sunny to partially shaded. The plant likes slightly loamy and calcareous soils that are still sufficiently humic.
Sowing should start as early as mid-March to April. A set-up is possible. The pea seeds are sown directly in the field. The sowing depth is chosen to be around 5cm. The distance between plants should be 5-10cm and 35cm between rows. After one to two weeks at 10-18 ° C, the plants will begin to germinate. As soon as the peas get a little bigger, the vigorous varieties need a climbing aid. Here you can make a frame out of bamboo sticks or use a cheap chain link fence from the hardware store. If the plants have already gained a few centimeters in height, soil should be piled up around the plant.
You can find detailed step-by-step instructions on how to grow it here: Growing peas: sowing, care and harvest time.

On normal garden soil, peas do not need additional fertilization to grow normally. But especially if the harvest residues such as leaves and sprouts are not incorporated into the soil after harvesting, but removed, the essential nutrients need to be replaced to keep the soil not long-term leach out. Our Plantura is suitable for this Organic universal fertilizer outstanding. The use of fertilizer is even absolutely necessary for pot cultivation, because purely organic plant substrates contain only the smallest reserves of phosphate and potassium.

Worth knowing: Peas are among the legumes that bring nitrogen into the soil through a symbiosis with bacteria. If you grow peas as a preculture, the following vegetables will find a rich supply of nitrogen. This promotes rapid growth. However, peas do not get along with bulbous and nightshade plants. Attention should be paid to this in post-culture.

Peas don't get along very well on their own either. Therefore, peas should only be grown again at the same location after six years at the earliest.

Pea varieties

There are four types of peas: field peas, field peas, Peas and Sweet peas. While the field pea is only grown for feed production, the other types are delicate and edible. The well-known chickpea is deliberately listed here because it is related, but belongs to a different genus (Cicer).
Most of the time you can only find modern types of peas in stores. Initiatives such as VEN (Association for the Preservation of Crop Diversity) V.) or the semen archive of Gerhard Bohl or the association Noah's Ark still take care of the cultivation of the variety. You can still find them at these addresses: the good, old varieties that also grew in Grandma's garden.
If you need help choosing a variety, have a look here: Pea varieties: choose the right variety.

Field peas

Also called field pea or field pea, it is used to feed animals due to its high protein content (20-25% of the dry matter). The peas are ground for this purpose and mainly fed to dairy and poultry cattle. Nevertheless, we would like to introduce two varieties:
(Synonyms: Field pea)

• Alvesta: modern variety with very good grain yield and high protein content.
• Respect: good variety in terms of growth, yield and protein content; Distribution by BayWa.

When ripe, this type of pea has a slightly shriveled grain. This type is mostly processed into canned food and frozen food or sometimes consumed fresh. Field peas are particularly popular because they are perceived as very tasty due to their high sugar content.

• Excellence: modern variety with good fruit quality and very high yield.
• Grandera: Grandera pea grows quite robust and rarely suffers from diseases; high-yielding and particularly tasty.
• Markana: robust variety with a compact and stable growth; does not require any climbing aid; good taste.
• Sublima: mid-late marrow pea with a high sugar content; aromatic and high-yielding; good resistance to fungal spots, powdery mildew and fusarium.
• Miracle of Kelvedon: medium early variety with high yield; the miracle of Kelvedon has meanwhile fought for a permanent place in the cultivar landscape of garden peas.

This type is mostly dried and later cooked. If the pea peas are harvested early, the grains can also be processed in a similar way to pea peas. However, the taste is slightly floury.
(Synonyms: Pahlerbse, Schalerbse)

• Very early May: very, very early ripening pea with good taste and good yield.
• Blue wokker: well-tried and traditional variety from the Netherlands; visually very conspicuous variety with purple pods; robust, healthy growth; good yield and taste.
• Feltham First: very, very precocious variety with deep green pods and a compact habit; can also be cultivated without a climbing aid; good taste; Feltham First is a further development of the traditional variety "Kleine Rheinländerin".
• Early Harzerin: very early and proven variety with robust growth.
• Little Rhinelander: proven and robust variety with medium-early ripeness; dark green pods with fairly large grains.

This type of pea lacks the parchment layer in the pod, which means that the peas, known as snow peas, remain particularly tender and tasty. While a few decades ago the pea peas were at the top of the popularity list, it is now the sugar peas.
(Synonyms: snow peas, kefe, pea pea)

• ambrosia: proven variety from Germany with quite fleshy pods; very good taste and high yield.
• Delicacies: Variety with two uses: if the pods are harvested quite young, they can be consumed as usual, including the shell; if the harvest takes place a little later, the pods are split open and the grains removed, as is known from peas; Resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium.
• Halfway up Normand: one of the early ripe varieties with light green pods and greenish yellow grains.
• Norli: one of the more modern varieties with a very compact habit; ideal for the balcony or terrace; quite productive despite the compact growth; aromatic sugar peas.
• Vroege Hendriks: one of the early varieties that has proven itself for cultivation in Germany.

Harvesting and storage of peas

In general, the following applies: The time of harvest depends on the time of sowing. Plants from seeds from the months of March and early April can be harvested as early as June. The entire pod of sugar peas is harvested and consumed, including the poorly developed peas. In general, these plants have to be searched and harvested regularly. Because only young sugar and marrow peas taste good.

It is best to freeze sugar peas and marrow peas so that you can enjoy them longer. As a result, the peas only lose a little aroma and also do not lose much in terms of texture. In contrast, peas should be dried.

After the last fruits have been harvested, it is advisable to cut the plants at ground level. The roots remain in the soil and thus supply subsequent crops with nitrogen. If you have a knife chopper with a sufficiently large slot, the greenery can be shredded and later used as mulch and natural fertilizer.

Ingredients and uses in the kitchen

Fresh peas contain up to 8% protein, around 0.5% fat and 10-14% carbohydrates. Peas also contain many amino acids, vitamins (B1 & B2) and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. Peas are generally considered healthy and easy to digest.

Sweet peas can be fried briefly in the wok or added to Asian soups just before serving. The tender sugar pea is also suitable as a side dish tossed in butter. In contrast to sugar peas, only the kernels can be consumed with marrow peas. The pod is too tough and fibrous. Field peas are harvested quite young and either fresh or processed into the classic frozen peas. If you wait too long to harvest, the kernels are already quite hard and do not change this state even when they are cooked. The very similar looking peas contain mainly starch, which is why they are particularly suitable for cooking. A quick searing is not enough here.

Pests and diseases

Of the Powdery mildew makes the pea to create now and then. This occurs in drought and low humidity. Regular watering of the plant can prevent this fungal disease. Fusarium, also a fungal disease, affects the leaves. These turn yellowish to brownish in color and begin to wilt (hence: Fusarium wilt). After a while the color turns black. There are now modern, resistant varieties against both powdery mildew and Fusarium, which make life easier for amateur gardeners. If plants in your own garden are infected, the infected material should be disposed of in the waste bin. This is particularly essential with the Fusarium fungus, as it can survive long periods in the soil.

If you find eggs on the underside of the leaves of the pea plants, they are probably the so-called pea moth. If you have regular problems with this pest, the location of the plants should be as far away as possible be changed and in the main infestation time between May and June a protective net is stretched over the plants will.