key growing information

Growing Peas: Planting, Spacing, Care & Diseases

How to grow garden peas: cool-season timing, pH and liming, inoculation, spring and fall sowing, trellising, seeding rates, diseases, harvest and treated seed.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Peas - Key Growing Information

A patch of garden peas, showing developing vines, tendrils, and pods.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Pisum sativum

CULTURE:

Peas are a cool-season crop, and midsummer pickings are lighter than early ones. For the best yields, provide good fertility and a pH of 6.5–6.8, adjusting with ground limestone or wood ash, ideally the fall before spring planting. Inoculate your peas to help them form nitrogen-fixing nodules on their roots. This feeds the soil, grows bigger plants and raises yields.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

Counted from direct sowing.

DIRECT SEEDING:

Spring crop: as soon as the soil can be worked in early spring, plant ½–1" deep and 1½–2" apart in rows 18–36" apart, without thinning. Varieties under 3' tall can go unsupported in rows 12–18" apart. Taller varieties need crop supports such as trellis netting or chicken wire to hold the vines up, make picking easier, and keep pods off the ground, where they can rot if harvest comes in wet weather. Hang the bottom edge just above the young plants, ideally putting the trellis up at planting. Trellised rows are usually 4–6' apart. Fall crop: choosing the right variety is key. Pick early, powdery-mildew-resistant varieties that will still flower as days shorten, and sow about 2 months before frost, keeping the seed well watered for good germination.AVG. DIRECT SEEDING RATE: At 25 seeds per foot in 24" rows: about 80' per lb., 13 lb. per 1,000', or 272 lb. per acre.

DISEASE:

Pea root rot (Fusarium or Aphanomyces euteiches) is common, yellowing and killing the foliage from the ground up. Well-drained soil and a rotation of at least three years away from legumes are the best defenses. Powdery mildew coats leaves, stems and pods with white powder in hot weather; choose resistant varieties.

HARVEST:

Pick once the peas have filled out in the pods.TREATED SEEDS: Treated seed is less likely to rot in long spells of cold, wet weather. Treated seed is noted in the product description.

SEEDS/LB.:

From 1,450 to 3,400, averaging 2,200.

PACKET:

250 seeds per packet, enough for 30–40'.