The First Pickin' of Peas

Forget Waldo, Where the Peas?

Just before the skies opened up and Noah floated down the Capital Beltway tonight, I ran out to the garden and harvested our first batch of gray dwarf sugar peas. It was only a week or so ago we saw the first purple blossoms drop in favor of very small pods. But tonight, there were almost two dozen pods looking to burst at the seems.

Picking peas can be a bit of a task. First of all, there's a very short window for prime plucking. If you wait a day or two too long, they may lose their sweetness. They get starchy and lose that yum-yum taste. Like most other plants, the longer you wait, the slower the plant will take to grow new fruits. My garden bible (The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch) says the opportune time to pick the pods is when you can feel full-sized peas inside and they do not feel hard. If the skin of the pod is smooth, it's ready to pick. Some peas are picked when the pods are full sized but still flat. But in the case of our sugar peas, the peas have to be full and round.

I didn't pick enough for two servings at dinner. But I'm hoping by tomorrow afternoon we'll have enough to secure a healthy portion on our dinner plates.