Everything You Need to Know About Starting Peas Indoors: It Can Be Done!

Everything You Need to Know About Starting Peas Indoors: It Can Be Done!

Peas are cool weather crops and need to be planted fairly early here in Maryland Zone 7. They prefer well drained soil and soil temperature that is 40 degrees or more. They do best when day temperatures don't get past 70ish degrees. So... I try and get mine outdoors in March. As of today, tomorrow will be March 1st and the ground is covered in snow and frozen. Losing most of March by waiting to plant peas directly in the ground, when the soil is ready, will really reduce my crop.

You can easily start peas indoors in peat pots or styro-foam cups. This will give you a 2-4 week jump on the season depending on the variety of peas you start. The video shows you how I seed start them and when they are ready to be moved into larger containers or outdoors. Remember plants that are started inside, need to be gradually introduced to the sun and temperatures. This is called hardening-off.

Peat pots work really well because you can plant the whole pot and not disturb the root systems. Peas will have strong long roots. If grown in the plastic cells, the will grow out the holes in the cell bottom. They have to be pulled back through that hole and often the roots get damaged. An eight ounce styro-foam cup provides enough room for the roots to grow. Just pop out the dirt plug from the cup and plant.

With the peat pots, the pot and plant go straight into containers or ground. I show you how to put them in a 5 gallon container. The process is essentially the same for putting them in the ground. You can plant them in a row if they are going into earth beds.

Good Luck with Your Garden,

Gary (The Rusted Garden)


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