Last edited by shiny on November 10, 2026. View history

Pea

Pisum sativum WD
Also known as garden pea (EN) English pea (EN) green pea (EN) petits pois (EN) guisante (EN) arveja (EN) erbse (EN) mattar (EN) ervilha (EN) arapatao (EN) bisillah (EN)

How to sow pea: direct

Sun requirement for pea: Plant in Full Sun

94
plantings
20
harvests
10
seed packets
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Pea facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
13 weeks median lifespan
First harvest expected 11 weeks after planting
Last harvest expected 13 weeks after planting

Height × spread

60cm × 3cm

Row Spacing

30cm

Growing Degree Days

10

Grown for

pod harvested 17 times
Optimal temperature 10–24 °C
Absolute temperature 4–30 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 800–1200 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 350–2500 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 5.5–7
Absolute soil pH 4.5–8.3
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

60–140 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

2700 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

Pea needs about 10 growing degree days.

For pea, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 780 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your pea will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing peas

  1. Dig the bed and add compost 1 week before sowing
  2. Put up supports for the vines 1 week after sowing
  3. Water regularly at sowing every week
  4. Weed gently by hand 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
  5. Tie in the shoots 4 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
  6. Pick pods regularly at first harvest every week
  7. Pull out finished vines and dig in the roots 4 weeks after first harvest

How members grow peas

Sunniness

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Planted from

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Harvested for

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Varieties of pea

Image of capucijner pea

capucijner pea

Pisum sativum
Image of Dalmatian pea

Dalmatian pea

Pisum sativum
Image of dwarf greenfeast pea

dwarf greenfeast pea

Pisum sativum
Image of flour pea

flour pea

Pisum sativum
Image of giant alderman pea

giant alderman pea

Pisum sativum
Image of Hadfield pea

Hadfield pea

Pisum sativum
Image of snap pea

snap pea

Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon
Image of Amish snap pea

Amish snap pea

Pisum sativum
Image of snow pea

snow pea

Pisum sativum var. saccharatum
Image of Picton sno pea

Picton sno pea

Pisum sativum
Image of Southland sno pea

Southland sno pea

Pisum sativum
Image of sugarsnap pea

sugarsnap pea

Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon
Image of Bohemian sugar pea

Bohemian sugar pea

Pisum sativum
Image of Henry's dwarf sugar snap pea

Henry's dwarf sugar snap pea

Pisum sativum
Image of Te Anau salad pea

Te Anau salad pea

Pisum sativum
Image of William F Massey pea

William F Massey pea

Pisum sativum

Plant peas with

coriander coriander oat oat orange tangerine french breakfast radish french breakfast radish red d'anjou pear red d'anjou pear

Photos

Pea crops

Pea plantings

Peas
Peas
by shiny
IMG_1235
IMG_1235
by Pdiff
pea shoot 1
pea shoot 1
by cropbot
Almost Ready
Almost Ready
by cropbot
20250722_104006
20250722_104006
by shiny

Pea harvests

snap peas
snap peas
by cropbot
Snow Peas
Snow Peas
by cropbot
2020-05-28_09-15-39
2020-05-28_09-15-39
by shiny
2020-05-10_07-15-54
2020-05-10_07-15-54
by shiny
Pea harvest
Pea harvest
by shiny

Pea seeds

IMG_20261011_120319
IMG_20261011_120319
by shiny
IMG_20180128_123714
IMG_20180128_123714
by shiny
IMG_20180128_123716
IMG_20180128_123716
by shiny
IMG_20180124_110255
IMG_20180124_110255
by shiny
More photos

Video

Where peas grow

Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.

What people are saying about peas

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The oats, peas, beans, & barley cookbook

oat, pea green bean barley

IMG_20261025_091654(1)

I have so many grains growing in the garden; it's time to learn the old recipes for cooking them. This…

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How to save seeds

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Bean mosaic virus?

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I never have good results growing beans here (SoCal, not too far from the high desert). Few ever sprout. Those that do never grow above 4-6" high and product 1-3 podseach, if they live long enough. (Note - I use legume inoculant on most, but not all, seeds of each type of [bean](/crops/bean…

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My raspberry are flowering!

Anyone whose english pea plants yield spherical peas must be a saint. I only get spherical peas if I miss a pod. In the evening I sit out in the garden and eat peas until there is nothing worth eating left on the plant. Then I am done…

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Seeds!

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Yay, seeds arrived. Gonna go on a planting binge tomorrow. Especially since tomorrow is tomato day!

Got: Golden purslane Watercress Yard long bean Blackeye pea Charentais melon Cantaloupe (M…

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Image of pea

Who's planted peas

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Pea harvests

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Find pea seeds

Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 60 to 140 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Log in and set a location to get more accurate predictions for this crop. Log in.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Pisum sativum L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Rosidae
Fabales
Leguminosae
Killing temperature growth: 0 °C, rest: -2 °C
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect, climber/scrambler/scadent
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture heavy, medium, light
Optimal soil fertility moderate
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours)

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

Learn more about peas

Resources outside Growstuff.