**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL!
Mmmmmm...
Love the snow peas! It can be tricky to grow snow peas in the southeast to get a good crop. Over the years I've come up with a few little tricks to help out.
For my zone, Basically, if my snow peas aren't in the ground in February I can forget about a good crop! It's still cold here in February so how do I work around that.
How I prep and start snow peas extra early!
My secret to early snow pea success and large crops, Low tunnels! I also prep the ground by January and get my hoop cover in place. Then about 2 weeks before I plant I place hot compost, mostly horse manure because that's what I have an abundance of, around the edges on the inside of the low tunnel. This provides a tiny bit of added warmth that keeps the ground from freezing if we do have a cold snap. Keep in mind I'm in the southeast, cold snaps are short and winters are fairly mild so this hack works very well for me. Some years if it has been colder I will also add a 'black mulch' on the ground too.
When the daffodils start to bloom its time to get them in the ground!
I do inoculate the peas which helps them along. If you're unfamiliar with inoculating peas and beans here is a good informative article. Pea Inoculation
Also here are some other ideas for winter gardening Winter Gardening Boards
When planning my gardens I keep in mind the 'givers and takers' and always plant accordingly for best results. You can grab yourself a copy of my givers and takers PDF printable guide and checklist here Givers and Takers Guide
The Snow Pea Varieties I compared
This year I planted 4 snow pea varieties.
- Norli ( pea in the middle ) was the first to produce and continued to produce large amounts! Much larger and longer than the other varieties. It isn't super sweet which is what I prefer.
- The snow pea on the far right is Corne de Belier. It is much sweeter than the other varieties but just now starting to produce.
- The pea on the far left is just starting also. Carouby De Moussane. It's the largest snow pea I've ever grown! Taste similar to Norli.
- The fourth variety is Dwarf snow has a few baby peas. Taste is sweet but they are few and tiny.
All these peas were planted at the same time with the exact same growing conditions. 
Other pros and cons of these varieties
Norli has a semi-bush habit which means no trellis needed! It also takes up less space and they are stringless.
The dwarf snow didn't need support but was too poor a producer.
The other 2 varieties needed big poles for support. They never produced as much as Norli but took up more space.
Previous Snow Pea Trails
Last year, In a previous trial, I planted Golden snow peas, Norli, and Snow Pea Melting Mammoth. Again Norli won hands down! Melting Mammoth needed support, took way to long to produce then the heat killed them out fast! Not a good variety for a large long crop in the southeast! The Goldens tasted good but were very poor producers and just not worth the time or space.
I truly hope these growing tips and variety comparisons will help you grow a large crop of snow peas to enjoy this spring!
And if you want a huge early snow pea crop you can order Norli Seeds here from Park Seed. I am not affiliated with Park in any way I'm recommending them because they are a great company and Norli snow peas are the best! Park Seed Norli Snow Peas
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For beauty and fun, a Few pics of my previous Goose Flock
Off current Subject, I no longer raise any poultry, but I love looking at my old homestead photos from the past years. Geese are hands down my favorite homestead poultry if you have pasture. Without pasture, they wouldn't be very efficient but they are certainly beautiful in any case.
I made the decision to move away from poultry at the beginning of 2018 for several reasons due to no fault of the goose! I'll write about later on. I'm still a huge fan of homestead geese. Here is a post about my favorite breeds and why they did well here to fit our needs for so long Homestead GeeseI do miss the geese!
Just a lovely site... Grazing geese...
Thanks for spending some time on my blog today!
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Till next time.... happy homesteading and enjoy the journey!!
