Gardening made me simply discover the joy of cooking & eating fresh Peas. Before that, I cannot simply remember one single time in my life when I ate them fresh, I was always getting them frozen from the grocery store or canned. Big City Life!
GROW IN PEAS
Growing Peas on a balcony is absolutely possible & it can definitely turn your spring balcony into an adorable green jungle with stunning & beautiful flowers. But when I say jungle, I mean it, Peas is a climbing plant, they will grow vertically & quite massively.
So you should definitely anticipate the vertical space they need & to obtain a good amount of fresh organic peas, they will need a good sized window planter with the right vertical support to grow. Even if growing massive, Peas is quite a vulnerable plant to strong wind. One great news is that they do not need full sun so you can place them at a location with half sun half shade. So to sum up, observe your space and pick a spot where you will be able to support their vertical growth such as balcony railing or a wall on which you can fix a treilli.
WHEN TO START YOUR SEEDLINGS?
You can start your seedlings indoor 6 weeks before your last possible frost date. They will grow quite quickly, give them a lot of light to enhance their growth. Transplanting your Peas outside must only happen after your last frost possible date, this plant is fragile & a light frost can kill them, so don’t take any risk, better to be patient!
PEAS & LOVE
My favorite variety are these purple ones. In their growing stage, they will develop a dense foliage in which you will witness the birth of lovely purple flowers. The first time I saw them, I felt I was growing a tropical plant! Soon enough, you will observe these peas coming out of these beautiful flowers, usually 3 weeks after they start blooming. Only harvest the ones that look strong enough, they should be bloated as one peas can contain up to 10 grains. Simply harvest them by cutting them & give yourself the pleasure of opening one to observe these beautiful grains that you can enjoy crude on the go for a garden snack.
I wish you a wonderful & peas-ful growing journey!