Peas

Sowing

Peas prefer staying in one place, so choose a sunny, well-drained spot, and don’t transplant them. You can also sow them outside, just when the cold season is about to end, when it’s at least 2°C. Make a shallow trench, roughly 20 cm wide and 2.5 cm deep. Sow peas in two parallel lines, spacing the seeds about 10 cm apart. Cover the seeds with soil, and pour a lot of water on — they prefer moist conditions. If you follow these steps, you should see the seedlings in one or two weeks.

Harvest

Before the peas mature, install a supportive stick — you should do this around the time when the plant reaches a 5 — 10 cm height. These delicious peas will be ready for harvest 55 to 80 days from sowing. But be careful. Use one hand to hold the pea vine and the other to pull off the pea pods — this will help preserve the stem. It’s also important to cool the peas after harvesting in a cold water bath to ensure flavor preservation. Young peas will be tastier than older ones, so don’t let them sit around and get cooking.

Get creative in the kitchen.

They’ll stay fresh in the refrigerator unshelled for up to a week. You can freeze them, can them, or even dry them — really, the choice of flavors is only limited by your imagination. Eat as a main, protein-rich dish, or add as a side to other meals.