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Snow pea shoots are very special and delicious green in cool weather.
It is tender, sweet and have very nice pea flavor.
In China, we usually use them in hot pot, soup and stir-frying.
If you ever eat in a Chinese restaurant,
you will easily find sautéed snow pea shoots with garlic on the menu.
It is super easy to grow but still there are gardeners have problem to grow them at home.
Here I will share with you my experience of growing snow pea shoots
and at the end still harvest good amount of peas.
First, choose the right variety.
A lot of pea varieties are grown for the pea pods or seeds
and the plants tend to grow short and bloom very early.
So these varieties are not for pea shoots.
Second, choose the right time to grow. Peas like cool weather.
The best temperature for growing them is 55~70 F (12 ℃~ 20 ℃).
It can stand temperature as low as 40 F (5℃)but grows slowly.
Temperature higher than 78F (25℃),
pea shoots will not grow well and can be tough and chewy.
You can sow pea seeds in your garden directly.
But I like to start the seeds in seed starter because squirrels always dig in my garden
to take my seeds out before they can germinate : (
No matter where you sow your seeds, remember to not bury them deep,
keep the soil loose and do not over water them.
In a week, pea seeds will sprout. Pea seedlings grow very fast.
In about three weeks, they will grow about 4~5 leaves and are developing vines.
You should transplant them as soon as possible.
Add a lot of organic fertilizer, turn the soil over and bury the fertilizer deep.
Plant 2~3 plugs in a foot.
You can do single row or double rows.
If you only pick pea shoots you can grow them more intensely.
Be careful not to damage the seedlings when you handle them.
Fully water your seedlings after transplanting.
In a week, peas will set their roots and start to grow.
When they grow about 1 foot long, you can direct them onto trellis.
This will make them grow faster and neat.
I simply tie few twines between my two bar trellis at both horizontal and vertical direction.
Pea vines are very light and easy to grab on trellis.
When the vines on trellis grow about 1~2 ft, you can start to pick the pea shoots.
The first batch of shoots may be thin.
In a week after picking, new shoots will grow out from the side.
They are thicker and tenderer.
Wait for the new shoots grow about half foot long, keep 1~2 leaves and pick the shoots.
Continue to do this. Snow pea can keep on producing shoots for weeks
if temperature is appropriate.
Snow peas consume a lot of Nitrogen when they grow shoots.
So if you see them slow down the growth, side-dress with some nitrogen fertilizer.
If it is in spring time, when temperature increases, snow peas will start to bloom.
This variety of snow pea can also produce pea pods heavily.
Stop picking the shoots and let the flowers grow.
Soon you will see many pea pods hanging on the vines.
These pea pods grow fibers very early so they are not good for picking young pods.
Just be patient and wait for the pods to get full with pea seeds.
You can harvest the green pea seeds for cooking.
After producing numerous pea pods, the vines reach the end of their life and turn yellow.
Pick all the pea pods and remove the vines.
Peel the green peas, blanch them in boiling water and freeze them.
You can keep them for long time.
Although Florida does not have much cool weather, I still grow snow peas every year.
This variety produces both young shoots and green peas which is great for home gardening.
You can find the seeds on our website at asiangarden2table.com/shop.
I hope you enjoy it. Thank you very much.
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I will see you next time.