About
This bushy annual, with rather bluish-green foliage with rounded leaflets, often marbled with grey-silver, each leaf ending in a clinging tendril to help the plant climb. White flowers in spring and summer are followed by green pods. This is a sugarsnap cultivar, producing fleshy, pale green pods, 6cm long, which are edible along with the peas they contain. It is early cropping, sweet tasting and yields well.
About the genus
A very small genus of annual, flowering plants from legume family. Native to SW Asia and NE Africa, species P. sativum is widely cultivated for food. Hollow. Climbing or trailing stems bear compound leaves and tendrils. Flowers are butterfly-shaped, 1-3 per stalk. The fruit is a pod
Growing conditions
SunlightFull sun
Soil typeChalk, Clay, Loam, Sand
Soil pHAcid, Alkaline, Neutral
Soil moistureMoist but well-drained
AspectSouth-facing, West-facing
ExposureSheltered
UK hardinessH2
Plant details
Plant typeAnnual Biennial
HabitBushy
FoliageDeciduous
Height0.5-1 metres
Spread0.1-0.5 metres
Time to full height1 year
Suggested usesBedding displays, containers, gap filling.
Care notes
CultivationSow seed in early spring, once the soil is warm, to early summer, in a double row at about 7cm spacings in a flat-bottomed drill 5cm deep and 15cm wide. Choose a position in full sun, with well-drained but humus-rich, moisture-retentive, preferably near-neutral, soil. This cultivar produces compact, bushy plants that should not need support. Pick pods regularly to ensure a continuous crop; for more advice see Peas (Grow your own)
PruningNo pruning required
PropagationPropagate by seed. See sowing vegetable seeds
Pest resistanceMay be susceptible to pea moth, aphids, pea and bean weevil, pea thrips, pigeons, slugs and snails; mice may eat newly sown seeds
Disease resistanceMay be susceptible to powdery mildews, downy mildews, foot and root rot, Fusarium wilt, grey moulds, pea leaf and pod spot, and virus diseases