Aphids? On peas? Are you kidding me?

I was out picking peas this morning and noticed these tiny black bugs, clustered like aphids, on some of the snap pea plants (snow peas seem to be ignored). I squashed them all, and then started noticing little, tiny, green aphid looking things as well, on the under side of many, many leaves. What the frak? I've never had problems with peas before, I thought they were a no-brainer! What are these things, and what do I do about them?

I've had aphids on my peas and beans this year and it's driving me insane! You can try ladybugs, but that's too slow for my liking. Some people swear by a blast of water, but when I do that it doesn't faze them and they come right back. So, I've resorted to spraying the plants either in the very wee hours in the morning or very late at night with a mixture of soap and water. That usually takes care of them for a few days then I have to do it all over again. I've been using Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap which smells great, but this time I'm going to use Murphy's Oil Soap, water, and just a dash of ammonia.

Hey Neighbor! HydePark is only 20 minutes from me, so we are in the same climate...
I too, am getting aphids this year. This is my 3rd year of doing a garden, and my first year having a problem with aphids. Have you seen them in previous years?
Mine are mostly liking my eggplant, but have found some on a couple pepper plants, snowpeas (not my sugarsnaps...lol), squash, zukes, and a couple on my green beans. They've not been a HUGE problem as of yet, but i spent hours today, checking all my leaves, and squishin by hand. They have not found my tomatoes yet :-)
Last year, i had a problem with cucumber beetles... just wondering about your pests, as we are neighbors.

There is definitely something odd going on with the bugs this year. In both my front and back yards I easily have twenty to thirty dragonflies--it does seem a tad early for them, but they are going to town on something. And a good friend of mine about two miles away reports that she has tons of fireflies already and it does seem early for them as well.

I also have had aphids on plants this year that have never had aphids on them before. I wonder if the hard winter we had may have had an impact. A farmer friend of mine said that usually when you get a thaw or two during the winter it usually cuts down on the insect population for the following summer because the insects that come to life during that thaw get zapped as soon as the freezing temps come back. This past winter our area had no thaw to speak of so maybe this has something to do with it?

Whatever the reason, I wish the dragonflies would go after my aphids! :D

Thanks, Stephanietx, I'll try the soap and water trick.
Fodder and Niere, sorry that you're having the same problem, but I'm now taking this as less of a personal attack, or comment on my gardening skills. I've had aphids in past years, but on flowers only--lupines and roses. But now that you mention it, I haven't had any issues with them for a few years, until now. Last year was my most ambitious garden by far, until this year, and I had virtually no issues except powdery mildew. I hope this isn't the year I get to learn about creepy crawlies. Several years ago I did some green beans out front, and we had a lot of something eating the leaves--I think I determined they were cucumber beetles. I wound up not doing beans for several years, hoping any larvae/pupa/whatever would finally die out. One year I had something eating my basil leaves; I thought maybe slugs, tried beer traps, and caught only TONS of Japanese beetles. That's about the extent of my bug experience; I'll keep you posted.

I've got aphids all the way out here in Cali too. On my peas, no less. And I know that things like ticks are having an explosion in population, so I wonder what's up with the bugs?

I blame it on the weird weather we've been having.

No kidding! We've had 2 sunny days so far this month; I'm amazed my garden is growing at all. And yes, what is up with the tick and flea population? I've twice now found little ticks, smaller than the head of a pin, crawling on me! And it freaks me out, because it's a miracle that I found them--so how many haven't I found?? How many are on me right now, but I don't know?! I think I'll start putting Frontline on myself.
My aphid problem hasn't been too bad, so I've just been going out every morning and squashing everything in sight. Pretty gratifying, and as bugs go, they're not particularly creepy.

I'm seeing lots of bugs here in "the desert" as well. No real problem to speak of in prior years but this season the grasshoppers were enjoying a buffet in early May...I usually see them in late July/August. I've found aphids on almost all of my peppers and tomatoes....even spotted them on some pole beans yesterday. I'm seeing several kinds of beetles I've never seen before and I've lived here most of my life. No shortage of centipedes and crickets either. Ticks and mosquitoes too. I can tell the lizards notice the increase too, because I see a big fat roadrunner carrying off a big fat lizard pretty much everyday but I still see dozens of lizards running around daily. Last year I saw 4 or 5 lizards all summer. I live in a city but have a pheasant roaming around and a hawk taking up residence. Mallard ducks show up in droves whenever we flood the horse pasture. In general the insect and wildlife population seems about ten times as large as what I've witnessed in recent years. I guess that's a good thing but it's starting to feel a bit like Wild Kingdom out here. Can't wait for the monkeys to arrive!

I realize you are seeing bugs on your plants but what damage are you seeing on the plant itself? When you say tiny black bugs I don't think of aphids. Anyway, you could also try using neem oil. Be sure you drench the top and bottom of the leaves, don't apply it during the heat of the day or when bees are active, because it is an insecticide so it will harm good bugs as well as bad ones.
Lisa