Peas are a great cool weather crop. Winter peas are especially resistant to the cold and are a perfect winter cover crop. Peas also fix nitrogen, which reduces the amount of fertilizer you will need to use! If you plant winter peas in the fall they will act as a cover crop throughout the winter. If you plant them in early spring they’ll protect and feed your soil until you can get warmer weather crops in the ground.
Plant the peas in rows 6 to 8 inches apart with 2 inches between each seed and push them into the ground 1 inch deep. The spacing isn’t too important, you can just scatter them on the surface and use a rake to mix them into the soil if you don’t have time.
Be sure to water and mulch! Water them every 3 days for the first 3 weeks. Once they’re established they don’t need to be watered much, if at all. They will turn yellow and die back when it gets hot outside. Just leave the plants in-place to cover the soil until you need to plant something else in the same spot and then turn them over with a garden fork. There is no need to remove the dead plants from the beds, they make great mulch and green manure!
The variety that I’m using (Austrian Winter Peas) hasn’t produced any pea pods, but I love eating the shoots raw in a salad. Just cut off the tops of the plants, leaving the bottom leaves so they can grow back. Rinse them and pop them in your mouth. They’re delicious!
Links to More Information
Winterize your Garden with a Cover Crop of Austrian Winter Peas https://www.iamcountryside.com/growing/winterize-your-garden-austrian-winter-peas/
5 Reason Why You Should Plant Cover Crops https://www.permaculturenews.org/2019/10/09/5-reasons-why-you-should-plant-cover-crops/
