Considering they require no shelling, are super tasty, and are about half the calories of traditional English peas, growing snow peas in your home garden should be a no-brainer. You can toss just-picked snow peas with spinach, lettuce, and tomatoes to give salads an extra sweet crunch. Snow peas are also a staple in stir-fries and, if you grow many more than you can reasonably use, you can always blanch and freeze them for later. Flavor aside, there’s a lot of nutrition packed into every edible pod. Snow peas provide protein, fiber, iron, calcium, potassium, vitamin C, and more. And, because these legumes can fix nitrogen in the soil, growing snow peas is good for the health of your garden, too. In this article, I’ll explain how to grow snow peas in garden beds and containers, from seed right through to harvest.

What is a snow pea?

Both the snow pea and snap pea are members of the legume family. Although related to English or shell peas, snow peas and sugar snap peas differ because they have edible pods. They’re also not as starchy as shell peas. While sugar snaps have puffier-looking pods and larger, more rounded peas, snow pea pods are much flatter. So are the peas they contain.

If you plan on growing snow peas, you have a couple of options in terms of growth habit. Snow peas like ‘Oregon Sugar Pod II’ are a bush variety. Suitable for growing in containers, bush or dwarf snow pea types have shorter vines that are less likely to require a large trellis. Still, they typically will need some degree of support.

Snow pea varieties such as ‘Mammoth Melting’ really like to climb. While ‘Oregon Sugar Pod II’ vines can grow two to three feet long, ‘Mammoth Melting’ tops out at five or six feet. Both kinds produce sweet, edible pods measuring four-and-a-half to five inches long.

When to plant snow peas

When growing snow peas you just might need your winter coat! Because they love the cold, they can be direct-sown outside in late winter or early spring as long as your soil isn’t frozen solid. As a general rule, you can plant your snow peas six weeks before the average last frost date for your USDA Hardiness Zone. (For a more specific timeframe, check the days to maturity for your pea variety and work backwards from your estimated last frost date.)

Watch this quick video to see how I plant and harvest snow peas in my garden:

Aside from a spring crop, you may be able to get an extra fall crop in, too. If you plant snow pea seeds in late summer—think August or September—then by the time summer’s heat subsides, your pea plants should be ready to flower and set pods. (Pro-tip: Have a spot that’s somewhat shady? Try growing snow peas there for your fall crop or use shade cloth to help further beat the heat. You can also add mulch to help retain soil moisture and keep your plants’ roots cool.)

Snow peas perform best in temperatures between 55 and 65 degrees F (13 to 18 degrees C.) That’s not to say you can’t grow them if you happen to live in a warm climate with very mild winters. In that case, you can plant your pea seeds as late as, say, October in order to get a winter crop of snow peas.

How to plant the seeds

Before you plant, take care to choose just the right spot. If you’ve already grown a legume like green beans or maybe a different garden pea in a specific area within the last couple of years, it’s time for a little crop rotation. Plant vegetables like tomatoes or cabbage there and plant your snow peas somewhere new. Those non-legumes will benefit from any extra nitrogen that’s been fixed in the soil; meanwhile, your snow peas are less likely to encounter legume-harming pathogens which can build up in the soil over time.

To start, amend the soil with organic matter like worm castings or finished compost as needed. Then, use a hoe to dig a long trench that’s roughly six inches deep. At this point, unless you have purchased pre-inoculated seed, you might want to sprinkle some beneficial bacterial inoculant along the bottom of the trench. (These bacteria work with the roots of your plants to pull nitrogen out of the air and convert it into a plant-accessible soil nutrient.)

Next, to improve their overall germination rate, soak your seeds in plain water for four to six hours and then sow seeds about two inches apart along the bottom of your trench. Cover with one inch of soil. As your pea shoots develop, use the extra soil from each side of the trench to bury a little more of the growing plants’ stems. This will give your snow peas extra support and will help to keep their root systems cooler.

Growing snow peas up a trellis

So, what about growing snow peas along a fence or trellis? Snow pea plant stems are delicate and need support—particularly as they become increasingly laden with heavy pea pods. The plants themselves naturally develop tendrils to grab onto whatever happens to be nearby. Staking or trellising helps to keep plants upright and makes harvesting easier as well.

Securing chicken wire between wooden or metal stakes is one reliable way to trellis large, long snow pea vines. A simpler system of stakes strung with wire or heavy twine can provide smaller, dwarf plants with adequate support if needed. Cattle panel arch trellises work well, too, for tall varieties.

Caring for snow pea plants

After planting, watch for squirrels, mice, and other rodents which could disturb your snow pea seeds. Birds and rabbits, likewise, sometimes will nibble on young pea plants. If you like, you can top the area with chicken wire or bird netting to keep everyone out until your plants become established.

You should also be vigilant about weeds which can quickly crowd out very young snow peas. As you remove the competition, try to avoid disturbing your baby peas’ roots.

To thrive, your plants will need at least six hours of full sun per day and an inch of water per week. Applying water directly to the soil, rather than wetting your plants’ leaves, can help to reduce the spread of fungal disease.

When to harvest snow peas

When your pea plants really start to produce, you may need to harvest a couple of times per week. It’s best to harvest your peas before they have the chance to fully mature. By doing this, you’ll trick your plants into continuing to put on more flowers—and more new pea pods! (Once the pea pods on your plants are allowed to reach maturity, hormonal changes within the plants take place. These changes spur the plant to go to seed, thereby reducing your yield of fresh, new pods.)

Ideally, snow pea pods should still look and feel flat with some wiggle room between the small seeds that they contain. You can gently jiggle your vines to cause ripening pea pods to sway. This can help you to spot potentially hidden pods that are ready for harvest. Use small scissors to separate the peas from their vines.

Growing snow peas in containers

Provided your pots are large enough and your peas get adequate support, growing snow peas in containers is absolutely doable. For best results, choose a pot that has drainage holes and is at least 10 inches deep. As you fill the pot with your potting mix, you might also want to include a small trellis support at the same time.

Once you’ve filled the pot with potting mix, make a four-inch-deep trench, add inoculant, and sow pre-soaked seeds about two inches apart. Cover with one inch of soil and add a little more of the remaining soil from each side of the trench as your plant grows. This method will give your snow peas a little extra support at the root level.

Your container-planted snow peas will need six to eight hours of light daily and about an inch of water per week. Your plants should be moist but not overly saturated. (If drainage is poor or you overwater, you risk losing your plants to root rot.)

More growing tips

• Prevention—By rotating your crops, choosing disease-resistant varieties whenever possible, and adequately spacing and trellising your plants, you should be able to avoid—or at least mitigate—losses caused by fusarium wilt and powdery mildew.
• Pests—Periodically check for and hand-pick uninvited guests. Among the worst offenders? Slugs which can sever the stems of very young plants and aphids which also prefer tender, new growth.
• Clean-up—When your snow pea plants have finished producing, resist the temptation to rip them out. Instead, cut them off at the soil line and allow their roots to decompose underground on their own. As they do, the nitrogen that was fixed into the soil from the air will be available for the plants that come next.

Peas please!

Now you know there are lots of good reasons for growing snow peas and they happen to be one of the simplest and most prolific crops to cultivate. They’re sweeter and much less starchy than their shelling pea cousins. They’re also rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals and they can even improve the fertility of your soil.

Depending on your climate and the amount of space you have, you can opt to grow dwarf, bush-style snow peas or larger, trellising varieties in the spring and fall by direct-sowing them in outdoor planting beds or containers. Whatever type of pea you choose, it’s a good idea to inoculate your seed to maximize plant health and nitrogen-fixing capabilities.

Finally, if you stagger your plantings or plant a mix of early- and late-season producers, you may be able to enjoy an even lengthier pea harvest. Just remember to keep on top of your crop, snipping the young edible pods before they can fully mature. That way, you’ll have more than enough snow peas for salads, stir-fries, or freezing for later.

For more fun facts on growing different types of peas, please visit these additional articles: 

• Growing sugar snap peas 
• Bamboo trellises for peas 
• When to harvest peas
• DIY pea trellis ideas
• Growing edible pea sprouts and shoots