Sugar Snap Peas vs Heat

Good morning ~

It looks like we're kind of skipping spring this year. It snowed May 4th. Last week it was in the high 70*F range and this week it has hit 90*F twice. Night time temps in the 40-50*F range. My sugar snap peas were about 2 ft tall and growing like crazy when the snow hit. They shook off the snow with no problem. But now they seem to be just sitting and not growing. They look healthy enough, and in this land of derert sand and sand, they are a delightful green color. Do you think the heat is stunting their growth? Do you think I'll get any peas out of them?

Thank you for your thoughts. Karla

Karla,

You'll probably be o.k. as they're already a couple of feet tall. We should get more cooler weather and peas like cool weather. Have they started to blossom yet?

Thanks for the encouragement. Generally speaking, once it hits 90 here, there's no looking back. I'm hoping the cool nights will help. No blooms yet. Thanks!

Keep us posted on how you make out.

6 blooms total on 18 plants that reach an average of 2 1/2 feet (they are supposed to get taller than me). I've been watering the heck out of them in the evening (90*F during the day - don't want to shock them with my 50*F well water). Nights cooling down to the 50's. I figure worse case scenario is that they are cute and will make a good mulch... but with blooms, well, now I am hoping to eat 6 pea pods!

Welcome to the joys of high desert gardening. My peas are doing so-so, they never get very big but have a fair amount of peas, if the ground squirrels wouldn't eat half it would be ok.

The good news about our wretched heat is you will have an abundance of all things squash. LOL You will also have wonderful melons if you start them early and transplant them after frost. Egg plant also LOVE this heat and I have tons every year, peppers grow wonderfully, but the peppers themselves get sun scald if you don't cover them with little bits of shade cloth (easier said than done with the never ending wind.) Basil and such grow great but you have to pinch them constantly to avoid (the inevitable) heat induced bolt.

By the way, I went way overboard with my tomato starts. If you would like some D-Mail me and I'll send you a list of the varieties I have.

Good luck with your peas. Keep in mind that depending on the variety they will flower and produce peas over several weeks. You might just have your first flush of flowers, with more to come.

Hi, Tombaak & everyone -

I'm very encouraged on the peas. Thanks! I was afraid when we hit 90*F the other day that the peas were going to just keal over. I figured they'd survive light snow ok (and they did), but I'm surprised they've survived this far into the heat. Maybe because of the cool nights.

Basil did so well last year that I am using some as ornamentals this year! Never saw basil blooms before, so I just let one of each variety flower. This year I started extras on purpose for flowers.

I've got several toms in the ground already - 3 or which survived the beginning of May SNOW! Got an over abundance of toms this year, too - gave some away, too. Thanks for the offer.

I USED to think cotton tails, jack rabbits and chipmonks were cute - not any more! Dogs had some rabbit dinner last night.

We love squash, so this is good news :-) Putting some out today.

30 MPH is just a breeze :-) When we built our raised beds, we extended the sides up with an extra 12" board - this provides afternoon shade along some edges and a small wind break. Some items that don't like "full sun" in the desert get planted on the edges. I am thinking of some contraption for sun shade material this year.

(Tombak, do you visit the Rocky Mt. forum? I found it more useful climate wise than other regional forums here. Also, did you come to the www.LyonCountyFlyIn.com ? If not, you should come next year)

Ate the first yummy sugar snap pea - at a lovely 1 1/4 inch long - the joys of gardening - you'll never find them in the grocery store that small and tender! Looks like 4 more will be ready for an afternoon snack (my favorite way to eat veggies is to graze while puttering in the garden...) Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

That's wonderful! I'm sure you're mulching them, right? My peas always appreciate some straw under their feet to keep em cool. :)

kmom, I applaud your efforts. Your windy, high plains efforts are far removed from my hot and humid armpit of Florida. Would you mind if I stick the knife in a bit deeper? Here, I can plant the seeds in mid-January, and hope that we don't get a frost for the next month. Once they are up, they are good to go, even if we do get a frost in Feb. A small pile of mulch, mounded up around the seedlings usually suffice.
By mid to late April they are 3-4 feet tall and covered with flowers. By mid to late May they are 6' + tall and we are pretty much sick of all the peas I bring into the house.
What is fascinating though, is that different climates dictate different crops. Can you grow a good crop of pumpkins or winter/summer squashes? I can't. Bugs and diseases love them. Can you grow a good watermelon? Well, maybe not. But I can.
Moral of the story is, try everything. But don't be surprised if your neck of the woods does not give you a bumper crop.

Kmom whats the average winter temp there Day and Night ? Paul

Hi, all. Mulch, mulch, mulch. Nothing survives 24 hours without it here :-)

Right now it's still spring, so the day temps are in the low 90*F's and the nights have been mostly in the mid 40's. I think Summer is ramping up, though, as the nights last few days have been in the low to mid 50's. "Our" weather station is about 17 miles away on the other side of a set of hills, so they aren't very acurate some times. We are both colder and hotter than Reno (62 miles away). Average for June is 85 - meaning the early part of the month is 70 and the later part of the month is 95 or 100. July & August average in the mid 90's with several days of 103-105 being fairly common. Nights average 50-60 May through early October. The 30-40 degree temp swings makes it awful hard to set tomatoes - snowed first week of May, 90 by the 3rd week of may. Amazingly, 2 of my "sacrificial" tomatoes survived the snow and are now growing like a jungle but setting no fruit. The ones indoors are just starting to set fruit. Our wet months are Feb-May with about 1/2" percipitation in each of those months (sometimes the May rains never make it to the ground - just to your windshield to bring the dust onto your windows, but no spots on the ground. It's really weird to stand in the rain and only get wet on your head and shoulders). Last year my toms started setting fruit in Oct - right before our first hard frost.

Basil grows like the dickens here, although you have to race it to keep chopping off the blooms. If you keep watering it, it loves the well drained sand, high temps and doesn't blink at 45 MPH winds. I let some bloom last year and they were lovely and the bees went nuts over them. I'm growing some as ornamentals this year. Along with my "sacrificial" toms that I move the hawk/humming bird moth caterpillars to when they show up on my "people food" tomato plants. Lemon balm and oregano seem to be doing better this year since I situated them for afternoon shade. The two purple ruffles basils that get afternoon shade don't seem as happy as their full sun bretheren.

Sunflowers love it here, too, but you have to stake them. This is the first year I'm trying squash here, but I buy bumper crops at a farmer's market from a farmer who is about 30 miles east of here - so I'm hopeful. North of us they grow water mellon and cantelope. They're on my list for next year.

Bell peppers like it here - but the giant desert grasshoppers seem to like them, too. I split them about 50/50 with the grasshoppers last year. I got more if I got them right before they turned red. Seemed like the hoppers knew the exact moment they turned ripe and would then chow down on them.

Munched 6 peas this evening.

I have lived in z9b in the central valley in CA and in 8b in GA cow country. The first year I lived here, the urge to start tomatoes in Jan was overwhelming, and I pretty much killed 30 toms by holding them indoors in small containers for 5 MONTHS under grow lights. I started at the end of March this year. Doing better. Got several in the ground outside and some in buckets that go in and out. And some living in buckets in my southwest facing bathroom window (i.e. they are in my bath tub). Several years in CA I had toms overwinter and give me fresh, ripe fruit for Thanks Giving... but I didn't have quail and lizards (or scorpions) and almost 5 acres in CA. So there are trade offs - like I have room for a small orchard -- apple trees are thriving, so is the cherry tree. all too young to bear fruit, but I got a few blooms on the cherry last month... new nectarine is doing ok. The one I planted last year was just budding out when the snow hit it in May and it never recovered. apples didn't blink.

... green house. I am dreaming, drooling, desparately scheeming for a green house. 350 sunny days, even if many of them are below freezing...

Ok, I digress and I ramble. It's like keyboard kudzu. At least I don't have to battle THAT any more! Hey, and no slugs in the desert - that I've seen anyway. No slime trails, no icky bodies under leaf litter. And I can water at 2 a.m. before I go to work and not worry about any moldy, mildewy, black spotty stuff. Ok, bye now. Good night. Thanks again for the encouragement.

kmom - in case not enuf peas show up - I had pea greens in a gourmet restaurant the other night - just barely cooked I think stir-fried - delicious!

Boy do I love sugar snaps fresh or cooked! My plants got started way too late (planted early but too cold until - bam! - too hot) so the plants are still real short. Got my fingers crossed!
Juli

Kmom,

Your sunflowers shouldn't need staking if they get in the ground early enough. I have volunteers every year and start some in pots. The volunteers are the giant headed ones (birds love them) they grow about 6' and haven't blown down.

I have had problems with some that were transplanted too late and bit root bound after that 60 mph sustained (gusts in the 80's !) two days we had four years ago. Reno lost tons of roofs and fences, we were lucky we lost tons of shingles but the fence stayed up and the roof stayed on. Most of the transplanted ones didn't make it, the volunteers stood back up (some a bit bent), shredded leaves and all.

thanks, tombaak, good to know about the sunflowers - enjoyed the wind and sand brown out yesterday. Too bad it didn't rain here, too, at the same time. Would have been a mud storm, then.

mayflwrhem, never thought about eating the pea greens. I've got tons of those... hmmm, think I've got a plan for lunch... we went from snow to 90 in less than a month. Well, the peas are only 2 1/2 ft tall, but they are blooming like crazy. The blooms smell so good. The other night was lovely and still when I was watering (2 a.m. before getting ready for work) and I was wondering what smelled so good - and I traced it back to the peas. Mmmmm.

Sugar Snap Pea Flower

kmom, you're much luckier than me. I started snow peas for the first time this year. Held off an extra week when we got nailed with a few days of snowlate Apr-early May. We went snow to mid 80's in 3 weeks! And, yes lows still in the 40's-50's. I think my tom's set fruit in early Sept last year. Squash and zucchini grew like crazy! I'm trying the sugar baby and Conneticut pumpkin this year. Oh yeah, I had 3 immature radishes bolt this last week. I too, plant out extra basil for their flowers. Cinnamon is really nice.

Okay, I was not aware that snap peas blossoms smelled good. Sweet peas, yes, but then, those are poisonous. :) I'll have to pay attention next season.

picked 15 pea pods this evening, along with 9 garlic buds - made a great little dish all sateed in butter. More to come. I'd say this was a success, all things considered (hey, and they put some nitrogen into the sand and will make some nice mulch when the time comes).

Today the peas became mulch for tomato plants. All together 20 heat abused vines yielded about a hundred yummy peas. Next year I'm definitely planting more and earlier. The patch was technically still producing 1 or 2 a day for the last week, but the 98*F heat was certainly taking it's toll. So now they are mulch and now some basils that will love the heat have been transplanted out in their place. Thank you, everyone, for your encouragement. Although it wasn't a bumper crop, they were sooooo yummy - and even when production drastically dropped, grazing on one or two here and there as I weeded and watered still made it worth it. And now they will return to the earth and put a bit more organic matter into the sand. Thank you, everyone, for your encouragement and advice.

I plant 2 rows of peas about 10 inches apart, and I always plant bush types. The tangle of pea vines provide shade and support for each other, and I use grass clippings for mulch. One year I had a patch of volunteer peas in a patch of weeds, they did so well I decided to try to duplicate the conditions, but without the weeds. I've thought about planting them in the fall and they would come up when they are happy, sut somehow I haven't gotten around to it. This year I planted them in April and am eating sugar pods now, later will have sugar snaps and regular ones that have to be shelled. I'm thinking that is too much work, so probably will not grow them again.

I remember shelling peas when I lived in rural GA. It's a lot of work, but if you share it around, it can be fun. The farmers would let the "locals" glean the fields after the main harvest, and my SIL and I would end up with several bushel baskets full. We and an elderly neighbor would sit on the porch and shell them and our neighbor would tell us about "the old days". Me, being a city born girl, would have sore hands after hours of shelling, and they would (gently) laugh at me :-) But for myself, I have never grown shelling peas as they are too much work. Going to try the short asian "snow peas" for the fall - going to devote a whole bed to them, I think (4'x8'). Peas for me and goodies for the ground - in a few years, I'll have Real Soil in them there beds!