pea

When to sow peas?

Botanical name
Lathyrus oleraceus
Family
Fabaceae

Peas are sown outdoors from March to June, 5 cm deep. They germinate in 6 to 15 days. They are harvested from June to October.

Peas are annual plants. The edible parts are the leaves, flowers, fruit and seeds.

pea
Photo: Bill Ebbesen · CC BY-SA 3.0

Peas through the year

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Indoor sowing
Transplanting
Outdoor sowing
Harvest
15913172125293337414549
  • indoor sowing
  • transplanting
  • outdoor sowing
  • harvest

In short

Outdoor sowing
from March to June
weeks 10 to 26
the window opens ten weeks before the last frost
Indoor sowing
from February to March
weeks 6 to 13
the window opens fourteen weeks before the last frost
Transplanting
from March to April
weeks 11 to 17
the window opens nine weeks before the last frost
Sowing depth
5 cm
Spacing in the row
8 cm
30 cm between rows
Germination
6 to 15 days
Germination temperature
10 °C
Days to maturity
50 to 70 days
Harvest
from June to October
weeks 23 to 40
Repeat sowing
every 21 days

The last frost is not on the same day everywhere, so the recorded weeks are a guide and not a date.

Growing conditions

🪨
Soil
loamy
🧪
pH
5.5 to 6.5
☀️
Sun
full sun
💧
Water
moderate water
❄️
Frost
tolerates light frost
🌱
Nutrients
a light feeder
🔁
Crop rotation
no sooner than the fourth year
📏
Height
30 to 45 cm

Companions in the bed

Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.

beetroot cited
broccoli cited
  • “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.

Pests and diseases

Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.

Powdery mildew

disease
Signs
A white, floury coating spreads over the leaves, first on the lower and older ones. The leaf under it yellows and dries up. The fruit stays small, because the plant loses leaf surface.
Prevention
Plant resistant varieties, leave an airy spacing and sun, and clear the debris at the end of the season. Unlike most fungi it is not helped by wet foliage, since it spreads in heat and high air humidity, in a dry summer too.

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Related plants

The plants below are in the same botanical family (Fabaceae).

Sources about the plant: Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Bayerische Landesanstalt für Weinbau und Gartenbau, Colorado State University Extension, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, KGZS Kmetijsko gozdarska zbornica Slovenije, KGZS Zavod Ljubljana, KGZS Zavod Nova Gorica, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, Semenarna Ljubljana, Smernice za strokovno utemeljeno gnojenje (Mihelič et al., MKGP 2011), Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 27 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: Clemson Cooperative Extension, UF/IFAS Extension, University of Maryland Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension.