How and when to properly plant peas with seeds in open ground
Peas are a popular plant in vegetable gardens, since the technology of sowing and growing it is simple, no seedlings are even required. However, in order to get a large harvest every year, you need to know how to plant peas correctly. In order for the grown beans to have a lot of nutrients, you need to observe the timing of planting and collection, be able to choose the right soil, and select plants for planting next to peas.
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Do peas need to be soaked before planting outdoors?
Planting peas is a simple process that does not require soaking and germination of seed. Often, gardeners, hoping to speed up the germination of legumes, soak the peas. This is not worth doing, since at this time the land is sufficiently moistened for planting, but there is a risk of a cold snap, then the germinated seeds will die.
For the plants to sprout, you need to properly prepare the seeds for sowing.
First, you need to select seeds that show signs of infection with a weevil. It is difficult to determine the disease by eye, so you can use a special method. Prepare brine using 2 tbsp. l. table salt per 1 liter of boiled water. Put the peas in this mixture and wait. Within 5 minutes, all affected seeds will float.
The floating seeds are unsuitable for further use, they must be collected and thrown away.
Healthy peas should be washed with clean water at room temperature, and then dried (can be spread on a cloth or paper towels). Seeds selected in this way still need to be divided according to size in order to plant large and small grains in different beds.
For seeds to start germinating at the same time, they can be heated before sowing. This is done simply: just put the seed for 1 or 2 hours next to a heater or battery.
When is the best time to sow peas?
The timing of sowing peas depends on the selected variety, the duration of its growing season. A popular variant of the varieties is early sugar varieties, they are ready for harvest in 1.5 or 2 months. Sowing peas should be carried out depending on the planned harvest time. This plant can be planted early as soon as the ground thaws.
For example, in central Russia, in warm years, this plant can be planted from mid-April, and in colder regions, from mid-May. When planting it in southern regions, you need to plant it as early as possible (for example, in March), since this plant does not tolerate hot weather very well, and the entire crop must be harvested before the onset of heat. To extend the harvest time, it is worth sowing both early and mid-season plant varieties at the same time.
To have fresh peas for a long time, you need to plant them several times. The interval between planting should be about 2 weeks. In the middle lane and cold regions, this legume must be sown no later than early July.
Soil and air temperature
It is important to understand that when planting peas in open ground, you need to take into account the soil temperature, and not the average daily air temperature. The grown plant has good resistance to cold, but before sprouting, its non-germinated seeds in the ground, saturated with moisture, may die or rot when the temperature drops. Therefore, before sowing, you need to choose the right plant variety, taking into account the soil temperature at which it can germinate effectively.
For the germination of smooth-grain varieties, the soil temperature should be above +1 ° С (a few days after the snow has completely melted), and for cerebral varieties - above +4 ° С (2 weeks after the snow melts). For plant growth, a stable temperature of + 12 ... + 16 ° С is needed, and the formation of pods - + 16 ... + 22 ° С.
If the temperature is higher than this indicator, the flavor characteristics will suffer and the yield will decrease, so peas are more suitable for growing in spring.
Soil selection
Peas are a plant that, on the roots, produces organic matter useful for growth, containing nitrogen. Despite this, the legumes still need to be fed with fertilizers so that there are more pods, and the bush does not die prematurely. For proper feeding, nutrient mixtures containing potassium, phosphorus and even nitrogen are required.
Before sowing peas, you need to choose a suitable soil. A sandy loam or medium loamy type soil is better suited. It is important that there is low or neutral acidity, as the plant does not tolerate acidic soils well. If the land on the site has high acidity, it is necessary to add crushed chalk, lime or dolomite flour to it in advance.
With a large sowing area of peas in the fields, it is worth choosing the land on which potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin, beets or corn, cereals were previously grown. It is not recommended to plant it after other legumes.
What can you plant peas next to?
Peas saturates the earth with useful organic nitrogen-containing substances due to nodule symbiont bacteria.
The soil that peas have enriched with nitrogen is favorable for many plants, because of this it is considered a useful neighbor. Peas can even be planted between rows of beds as a producer of fertilizers for neighboring vegetables, and the harvest of the peas themselves in this case will be a pleasant bonus.
Taking into account the usefulness of neighboring plants for peas, it is worth paying attention to tomatoes (they will help in the fight against pests), corn (as a support for it), mustard (it will overcome the moth). This legume also gets along well with potatoes, carrots, various salads and herbs, cucumbers and cabbage.
Do not plant next to peas: garlic, onions, and other legumes.
Before planting, it is necessary to plow, the depth of plowing the soil for peas is from 20 to 27 cm.
How to properly plant peas in open ground?
After the seeds and soil for the peas are ready, you need to start planting. To do this, first you need to select the area dug up last fall and apply fertilizers, form the beds. Then, using a hoe, make grooves 3-4 cm deep, at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other. If you can see that the soil is not sufficiently moistened, it is worth watering the furrows with water. Then spread the seed along the created strips at a distance of 10 cm from each other, the peas must be deepened into the soil by 4-5 cm.
After the peas are laid out, the furrows should be covered with earth and the soil should be slightly tamped from above. If the soil looks dry, you can water it (always with a watering can with a diffuser). When planting is complete, you need to cover the beds with a dense non-woven material, otherwise the birds may eat the seeds.
Seedlings will appear about a week after planting. When this happens, you will need to loosen the soil a little and gently.
Preparation of beds and planting scheme
When looking for a place to plant peas, it is best to choose a dry and sun-exposed area. For varieties that ripen earlier, you can make beds up to 0.5 m wide, and for later varieties, narrow beds, arrange trellises and plant several rows of plants. This will make it easier to harvest.
Immediately before sowing peas in open ground, for narrow beds, furrows are made longitudinally, for wide ones - transversely. On such beds, you can make row-spacing inserts (about 40 cm wide) and plant salad on them. With this scheme, both crops will actively grow, especially on fertile soil.
Peas are often planted in open ground under apple trees. It is not difficult, the main thing is to know how to plant peas and make sure that there is enough light for it, and before planting, it is necessary to fill up the fertile soil with a layer of about 10 cm.
Sowing peas in the garden
Before starting summer cottage work, it is worth watching a video that describes how peas are planted in open ground. From the video, you can study the method of sowing peas, see the seeding rate and find out useful tips on varieties and planting material.
Plant care
Peas are a viable and unpretentious plant, so planting them with seeds in open ground and further care is simple. The main thing to do with it after planting is to tie it up, water it and feed it, prevent it from getting sick or being besieged by pests.
Care and growing peas begins when the bushes are very small, at this time you need to loosen the ground. When the bushes are large, loosening is not required, and it will be difficult to do because of the density of the plant. They also do not weed adult seedlings.
Almost all varieties require the installation of additional support next to the beds. After installing the trellises, the garter is almost not required, since the plant itself clings. If a variety is planted, the height of which will be up to 0.5 m, then you can limit yourself to installing sticks with a fishing line stretched between them.
If there is no rainfall, the plant needs watering. While there are no flowers, it is enough to moisten once a week. It is important to water the plants 2 times a week during the flowering and ripening of the peas.
Watering time should be combined with top dressing. This is done when flowering is just beginning and the pods are tied. The composition for 1 m² of the garden is prepared from 10 liters of water and 1 tbsp. l. azofoski. Additional watering is done before feeding and after the procedure.
