Vegetable peas belong to the category of plants that do not require much labor when grown in a summer cottage. In order for it to grow on time and give a full-fledged harvest of a delicious treat, which children especially love, you must not only choose the right variety, but also plant the seeds in the garden as early as possible, as soon as the spring garden work begins. This is a culture that will certainly thank the gardener with useful vitamin pods.
Choosing a place, preparing soil and beds for planting
Vegetable peas are divided into sugar and peeling. These species differ in whether they use whole pods or just ripened peas. In the country, sugar varieties are most often planted, but from the point of view of agricultural technology, this is not important, at least, planting of all types of peas is carried out almost identically. Growing this healthy vegetable crop is not a problem even for a beginner gardener.
Peas are a cold-resistant plant, and they begin to sow it as soon as the ground thaws at least a little after winter, so the garden bed must be prepared in the fall: in the spring at this time, digging up the site is still very difficult. The bed may be the smallest size, there may even be several, in the most unnecessary areas, but it should be a well-lit place: in the penumbra, the peas will also grow, but the yield will decrease slightly. It is very good to sow early sugar peas by the paths, where children will be happy to pick it off without trampling the plantings.
It is advisable to make for children a convenient approach to the pea bed
Since peas are sown very densely, it very soon grows into a kind of "forest", its stems are entwined with grown weeds, and it is not possible to weed them. Therefore, even the most waste site should be previously cleared of weeds, at least perennial. Peas love soil, medium in composition: loamy and loamy sand. The soil should be moderately fertilized, but a lot of nitrogen fertilizer is not required for peas: it provides itself with this element, extracting it from everywhere and being considered a nitrogen accumulator.
Manure is best applied (1 m bucket2) under the predecessor, and in the autumn dig a bed under the peas with the addition of 20-40 g of superphosphate and 10-20 g of any potash fertilizer. You can replace this mixture with a liter can of wood ash. If you bring manure directly under the planting of peas, then the bushes grow greatly, branch, late tie a crop, and sometimes get sick. Soils that are best in acidity are slightly acidic or neutral, in case of excess acidity they are preliminarily calcified.
Pea predecessors when planting
Pea is a non-whimsical plant, and you can sow it after almost any vegetables. The best predecessors are any pumpkin crops (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins), as well as all kinds of cabbage and potatoes. Pea itself, as well as its related beans, is the best precursor for most famous vegetables.
You should not grow peas in one place for several years in a row: the soil after it should be 3-4 years occupied by other crops. Peas should not be planted after any type of bean.
Preparing seeds for planting
Peas are often sown with seeds from their harvest, because by the end of fruiting interest in it disappears and there are many unassembled pods that ripen to full condition. This is normal practice in most cases, if only the sown peas were not a hybrid (F1): in this case, you can get a completely different crop than expected. Peas are often planted with dry, just bought seeds, but it is better to spend a little time to prepare them for sowing.
Seed rejection
Even in the purchased pea seeds, which are in beautiful bags, there are a small number of unsuitable specimens, and in their grown on their site there may be even more. Therefore, it is worthwhile to discard the unfit in advance. Self-collected peas must be checked for damage: very often he visits a fire. Such seeds are penetrated by holes, inside which you can find traces of pests, and even small worms.
You can reject such seeds manually, sorting them individually, but it will be much faster to pour the seeds into salt water (a tablespoon per liter) and wait a couple of minutes. The frail and infected seeds will not sink, they must be collected and discarded. Drowned - rinse with water and dry. After this, you can sow them, but it is better to continue preparation if there is still a little time left before sowing.
Germination test
Pea seeds are suitable for sowing for 5-6 years, but only in the case of proper storage, if they are not periodically moistened. Therefore, in doubtful cases, it is advisable to test them for germination, and do it in the winter, so that if you fail, you can buy fresh seeds of the desired variety. For peas, germination is considered good if 9 out of 10 seeds are suitable.
Pea seeds usually sprout easily, but sowing them with roots is very inconvenient
Checking germination is very simple: a dozen seeds are soaked for a couple of hours in water, after which they are transferred to a damp cloth. Put this mini garden in any container and loosely cover it with a lid. Twice a day, they check to see if the fabric remains moist, and if necessary, add water.
Peas peck in a few days, and after a week everything becomes clear: if only one pea has not sprouted - fine, two or three - is tolerable. If you have tails less than five, it is better to buy new seeds. Although, if there are a lot of old ones, you can sow them too, only with a margin, twice as thick as usual.
Is it necessary to soak and germinate seeds
Soaking and germinating pea seeds before sowing is not recommended. This is especially true of the most delicious and popular brain peas. What is the reason for this? Yes, most vegetables grow better if they are sown with germinated seeds. But the fact is that peas are sown very early in cold soil. If it is sown with un germinated seeds, they will simply wait until the threat of severe frosts leaves: somehow, the seeds feel it. But if the temperature of the soil drops below 4 aboutC, young roots of sprouted peas die, and after that the seeds rot.
Soaked peas it makes sense to sow only if the early planting dates are hopelessly lost, and you want to get the crop as soon as possible. If the gardener is confident that the cold will not return, and the soil has warmed enough, then you can put the seeds on the saucer and pour water so that it only covers the peas. Soaking time is about 12 hours, and during this period it is necessary to change the water 4-5 times.
Peas are saturated with water and swell, but this procedure will reduce the time of emergence of seedlings by a maximum of two days, and then if the soil is sufficiently moist. Sprouting seeds in the classical sense of the word, that is, before the appearance of the tails, should not be: they will be much more difficult to sow, but this will not give a significant gain.
Video: sowing sprouted peas
Seed treatment before sowing
In order to make seed germination in the garden more friendly, they can be warmed up in a dry form near the battery, placed next to it in any cloth bag for one and a half to two hours. Chemical treatment may be required to prevent the occurrence of diseases if they have ever been found on the site, but ordinary summer residents almost never do this.
In large agricultural enterprises, peas are pre-treated, for example, with formalin.
Some gardeners before sowing (not early!) Treat the seeds with various preparations containing biologically active substances. In this way, they try to maintain plants in difficult climatic conditions or slightly increase productivity. Among the most popular drugs are Epin and Humate (drugs that have a stimulating, adaptogenic and anti-stress effect). Sometimes, in the preparation of seeds, micronutrient fertilizers are used (preparations of zinc, molybdenum, cobalt). If you engage in such work, you must do this very carefully, without exceeding the dosages prescribed in the instructions for the chemicals.
Pea planting dates
The maturity of the first crop varies greatly depending on the variety, but ordinary summer residents almost always sow sugar varieties of early ripening. Their first blades can be torn off approximately 45 days after sowing. Therefore, you can calculate the timing of sowing and relying on these data. But in practice, peas are sown without hesitation, as soon as the soil allows you to outline rows and delve into it a few centimeters. In the central region of our country, depending on the weather, this can be done in mid or late April.
To extend the harvest, it is advisable to sow several varieties: the earliest and middle early. But in any case, this should be done as early as possible: peas sown closer to summer grow and develop worse: he does not like the weather too hot. The deadlines are mid-June. All varieties of peas are amazingly cold-resistant. At the same time, smooth-grain sprout at a soil temperature of +1 aboutC, and the think tank needs a little warmer weather. But any temperature is suitable. For pea growth, the optimum temperature is from 12 to 22 aboutFROM.
Some gardeners try to focus on the lunar calendar in planting dates. Although it should be recognized that in recent years, interest in this topic has subsided somewhat, which is also due to the fact that different publications publish very different dates for the same garden works. If we analyze various sources, it turns out that in 2018 for sowing peas, the most favorable dates are called April 21, 23-28, and also May 3-5.
Landing dates in various regions
Peas grow well in any climate except very hot. If in the central regions of Russia it is sown in April, then in the north - in May, and in the south - already in the first spring month: peas do not like hot weather, and you can get a full crop only before it arrives. Therefore, for example, in the Krasnodar Territory or the republics of the North Caucasus, peas can be planted already on different dates in March, depending on the current weather.
In the suburbs or in Belarus, where the climate is similar, the ideal conditions for growing this crop. Dates of sowing peas here are very early, they begin when the soil is warmed up to 5º C, that is, no later than the May Day holidays. Many gardeners sow seeds two to three times, until about June 10th. In Ukraine, the climate is diverse: it is the second largest country in Europe. If in the north the sowing calendar is similar to the Moscow Region, and peas are sown in the middle or end of April, then in the southern regions this is already done in the last days of March.
In colder climatic conditions (Siberia, the Urals and the Urals, the North-Western region, including the Leningrad region), it is rarely possible to sow peas earlier than the beginning of May, and in some years the land ripens only closer to the middle of the month.
The process of planting peas on seedlings
To get a very early harvest, peas are sometimes grown through seedlings. True, a lot of space needs to be allotted for this in the apartment, so they try to prepare seedlings in greenhouses or hotbeds. For this purpose, any containers in which seeds are sown every 2-3 cm are suitable. The composition of the soil does not matter. For sowing, it is better to use early varieties, for example, Early 301 or Viola.
Since there is no need to be afraid of cold at home, peas are soaked before planting for 10-12 hours, periodically changing the water. Sowing seeds itself is not difficult: they are buried to a depth of 3-4 cm, having previously outlined frequent grooves, and watered well. Peas emerge after about a week, and seedling care is the most common: keeping the soil moist and tracking light and temperature conditions. Peas should be in the sunniest place with a temperature not exceeding 20 aboutFROM.
The most difficult thing is the picking of seedlings, so you can immediately sow it in separate glasses, but in the apartment they certainly will have nowhere to put it. In this regard, they often dispense with a dive, but to unravel the interwoven roots of neighboring plants is not at all easy.
Sometimes seedlings are grown on the so-called hydroponics. To do this, construct a "snail" of toilet paper, which is placed on a plastic film, and then prepared seeds are laid out on paper, abundantly watered. Having rolled paper with a film into a roll, put it vertically and watered daily.
With this option, the snail should be lit at least 18 hours a day. After two weeks, the seedlings develop good roots, and after a few days the "snail" is developed, the peas with roots are carefully separated and transplanted into the garden.
Already at the stage of cotyledonary leaves in toilet paper, peas give powerful roots
Transplanting seedlings into the ground
Seedlings in a box with soil are ready for planting in 3-4 weeks, earlier in hydroponics. Carefully removing it from the nursery, planted in pre-prepared beds. In the middle lane this is done in the first half of May, in the south - the end of April.
Seedlings are planted in deep grooves, well watered with water. Landing pattern - 10-12 cm in rows and 35-40 cm between them. If the work is done in cloudy weather, the seedlings take root pretty well.
The technology of planting peas seeds in open ground, step by step instructions
Direct sowing of seeds in the garden at the earliest possible time is the usual way of planting peas. Since the beds are usually ready from autumn, grooves are planned before sowing at distances of 15-30 cm from one another: for undersized varieties less, for two-meter bushes more. If the earth has already managed to dry, grooves are watered, and then peas are sown.
What fertilizers to use when planting
The main doses of fertilizer were added to the bed during autumn tillage, as mentioned above. In spring, you just need to loosen the ground with a heavy rake, but before that you can sprinkle wood ash on the bed (about 1 liter per 1 m2) and a pinch of urea. Other fertilizers at this moment should not be applied under peas. If organic matter was not introduced in the fall, then it is not too late to patch up a good compost in the garden in the spring. Peas respond well to the presence of molybdenum and boron in the soil, but they are rarely applied in the form of purchased fertilizers; the deficiency of these elements is compensated by the introduction of increased doses of wood ash.
Planting peas as fertilizer for the soil
Pea is one of the most famous and high-quality siderates. This is the name of plants that are planted not for harvest, but in order to mow them and grow them into the soil as a fertilizer after the green mass has grown. Peas are good because they accumulate nitrogen compounds in the soil in a form readily available to other plants.
For the same purpose, they sow, for example, beans, vetch, oats, lupins, etc. These are crops whose green mass grows very quickly, and then it enriches the soil with valuable nutrients.
When sowing peas for fertilizer, the seeds are sown as densely as possible, after which they are systematically watered, and before the peas bloom, they are mowed and the whole green mass is dug up with the soil. Peas manage to go through this entire cycle before transplanting seedlings of thermophilic crops such as peppers or tomatoes.
Methods for sowing peas: dry or soaked seeds
As already mentioned, it is dangerous to sow peas with soaked, and even more so germinated seeds at a very early date: in the event of a cold snap, they can disappear. Prepared seeds can be sown no earlier than May, in April it is better to use dry ones. If early-ripening varieties are sown along the paths, often even in one row, then peas intended for late consumption are tried to plant on a more or less large bed: as a rule, mid-ripening, and even later varieties grow in the form of very tall bushes that cannot be cultivated without supports.
Based on the estimated height of future plants, and sowing grooves are outlined, given the possibility of constructing supports for tall stalked peas. The peas do not need to be tied up; he himself seizes on the obstacles encountered on the way of his growth. And it’s better to build them in advance, so that as soon as the first antennae appear, he can cling to something.
For relatively low bushes, these can often be set half-meter pegs, but in medium-late varieties the stems grow up to one and a half meters and above. Therefore, in this case, stakes or rods of appropriate height or a vertical coarse mesh are necessary.
The sowing depth depends on the density of the soil and can be from 4 to 10 cm: deeper on sandy soils, smaller on clay soils. Seeds are laid out at a distance of 5-8 cm from one another and planted in the ground, slightly tamping. If it is early spring, there is no need to water it. If the soil is already dry, water the bed should be abundant, and then mulch with humus or at least dry soil.
Peas are not sown very deeply, but it is necessary that birds do not glue them
Thus, the planting patterns of peas can vary from 5 x 15 cm for the smallest varieties to 10 x 30 cm for tall ones.
Summer pea care consists of watering and harvesting: loosening and weeding very quickly become impossible, and with good dressing of ridges with fertilizers, you can do without fertilizing. Weeds can be cut, but not pulled out, because they are usually abundantly entwined with tendrils of peas.
So, the main steps when planting sugar peas are as follows.
- In the autumn we dig a plot, introducing mineral and organic fertilizers, but not fresh manure.
Digging up a fertilizer bed in the fall is perhaps the most difficult physical job
- In the early spring we prepare seeds: we check for germination, calibrate, but for early planting we do not soak.
Soak peas only in case of not very early sowing
- In the spring, we level the garden bed with a rake, possibly after adding wood ash.
Ash - an environmentally friendly fertilizer - can be applied to the soil at any time
- Having outlined grooves at a distance of 15 to 30 cm from each other, we spread the seeds of peas in them, keeping a distance of 5 to 10 cm between them.
Sow peas, depending on the quality of the seeds: if the germination was not very, then thicker
- We fill the seeds with soil. If it is dry, water and mulch with humus or dry earth with a layer of up to 1 cm.
Watering only if the earth has already dried up
Video: sowing peas with dry seeds
Planting peas in a greenhouse
To grow super-early crops, peas are sometimes planted in a greenhouse. Although, of course, a zealous owner would rather spend a precious place for growing more heat-loving crops. In unheated greenhouses, including polycarbonate, sowing is carried out in March. In the greenhouses they plant only sugar brain varieties, which you want to feast on the pods as soon as possible.
Of course, in the greenhouse it’s a pity for a place for peas, but furious lovers will definitely plant several bushes
Greenhouse pea cultivation is no different from ordinary, except that with the onset of heat the greenhouse will have to be constantly aired: peas do not like heat. In addition, because of the increased humidity, peas in the greenhouse often become infected with powdery mildew. They plant peas in the same way as they do in unprotected soil, but do not rely on rains and often water. To repel pests, mustard is planted nearby or basil seedlings grown in advance are planted.
Pea compatibility with other plants
Peas enrich the soil with nitrogen compounds, which is undoubtedly useful for its various neighbors in the beds. He is considered a good roommate for most cultures. Many gardeners plant peas even between other plants in several copies, not for harvest, but to help them. But do all the neighbors thank the peas for this? Almost everything, it is undesirable to plant it only next to onions or garlic, as well as with the next of kin - beans and vegetable beans.
The best neighbors of peas are carrots and cucumbers. In addition, you should try to plant nearby herbs or tomatoes, which with their smell repel many harmful insects. Mustard drives off a pea moth. Sometimes peas are sown next to corn, whose high stems act as strong supports. Peas live perfectly in the community of cabbage, potatoes, any green crops (parsley, salads, dill).
Pea is a very cold-resistant plant, which is sown one of the first. Failures with getting his crop almost never happen even for beginner gardeners, but it must be planted correctly and on time. Too early planting is impossible: the summer resident simply does not loosen the soil, and when planted too late, it rises harder and gives a later and meager crop.
