Vegetable Gardening (45 page)

‘Maestro':
A prolific early variety matures in 60 days and reaches only 2 feet tall but produces 4- to 5-inch pods with 9 to 11 peas per pod on powdery mildew-resistant plants.

‘Mr. Big':
This All-America-Selections-winning (see Chapter 4), disease-resistant variety is a big producer that matures in 67 days. The 5- to 6-foot-tall vines produce 4- to 5-inch-long pods with up to 10 peas per pod.

‘Petit Pois':
This novel
baby
pea (the pea seed inside the pod is smaller than the normal pea seed) is extra sweet and tender. It produces 6 to 7 peas per pod. The plants are 20 inches tall and produce peas in 58 days.

‘Wando':
This very productive, warm weather variety grows 3 feet tall and produces 7 to 8 peas per pod in 68 days.

Sweet and tender snap peas

Snap peas were once the new peas on the block. Now they have become a mainstay in many gardens. Snap pea pods
fill out
(the pea seed inside the pod forms) like an English pea, but they have a sweet, tender pod like a snow pea. Some newer varieties are considered stringless. The plants range from the original ‘Super Snap' that grows to 8 feet tall to the diminutive ‘Sugar Bon' that grows to less than 2 feet tall. Kids love snap peas, and they're as easy to grow as English peas.

Try these varieties of sweet and flavorful snap peas:

‘Cascadia':
These 2-foot-tall vines resist the pea enation virus disease (a problem in the Pacific Northwest; see the later section "Pesky pea problems") and produce 3-inch, dark green peas 58 days after planting.

‘Sugar Ann':
The earliest maturing snap pea, this variety is ready for harvest in 52 days. The plants grow only 2 feet tall, producing sweet, 2- to 3-inch pods. Because this snap pea is a dwarf variety, it doesn't need support and can be grown in containers. ‘Sugar Sprint' is similar to ‘Sugar Ann' but doesn't produce stringy pods.

‘Sugar Bon':
A 1- to 2-foot-tall snap pea, this plant matures in 56 days and resists powdery mildew disease. Because of its size, this variety is super for containers.

‘Sugar Lace II':
These 30-inch-tall vines have few leaves and many tendrils, making the 3-inch-long pods easy to see. The plant is self-supporting and disease resistant. It matures in 68 days.