Natural Girl wrote:
....
I
was wondering just how close you can plant peas and not be too close?

i plant them four inches apart. if there are
any large gaps where seeds don't sprout i stick
a few in to fill, but mostly what happens is
they grow all over each other anyways. i think
they generally work like soybeans in that the
plants will limit each other to a certain level
of production based upon soil nutrients, water,
sunlight and trellis space (if used).

as of yet i've not had a poor germination rate,
but certain peas seem to grow better in different
soils. one of the large pod varieties (OSPII) i
have didn't do well in the heavy clay area i
planted them to start, but i'll try them again
this season in a more regular garden soil area.

i have a generic soup pea (good for fresh peas,
pea pods and then the dried peas) which does very
well in both clay and regular garden soil. it's
also nice in that it has tons of tendrils so it
will self-support if planted in blocks. as it
grows it looks like a pile of green steel wool as
the leaves are on the stem, but are dominated by
the tendrils.

the other three varieties of peas/pea pods i've
grown seem to be ok for heavy clay, i haven't yet
tested them in regular garden soil.

so far my list of varieties is:

Dwarf Grey Sugar Pod
Early Alaska
Little Marvel
Oregon Sugar Pod II
Soup Pea

i'll likely continue to try more varieties out as
i come across them (i'm sure there are many).

good luck


songbird