As pea pods get bigger, they tend to stay flat and wide before seeds start to develop (at which point they are usually too mature). I think the seeds in shelling peas expand as the pod gets larger and the pod starts getting round right from the beginning. I grow peapods and sugar snaps. Once the pods start showing, I think you'll be able to tell the difference. They aren't going to stay on their own side of the fence.

Thanks very much for the ID. Perhaps I'll try them both out. With a little luck, I'll be able to find the seed in a local garden store rather than have to put in a special order to Burpee for the Super Snappy. Thanks again!

Hehehe, good thing I'm a trained chef and know how to work recipes based on metric and standard weights. Just being silly with you. Not about being trained, but teasing about the forms. Only thing I don't know is... what is a "slug" of cream and croutons? Do you mean the dressing on the top of the dish, as in a bit of cream and croutons to serve.. or is slug a measure? Because if you mean a slug as the dressing, I'm going to for sure adopt that as part of my lexicon for that goodly dollop, smear, or squirt of stuff when presenting the bowl of whatever. I rather like the notion of adding a slug of whatever to my dish :) And more seriously.. you say one lettuce. As in a head of lettuce, like iceberg lettuce? Or as in a bunch of lettuce, like a package of loose leaf lettuce?

Yes, plant thick. I have a few varieties that always do well and trying a couple more this year. Sugar Ann and classic Sugar Snap do well for me. I plant, direct seed, my first double row as soon as i can work the soil, then again the next 2-3 weekends, a week apart-ish. (wet rough weather will sometimes keep me out of the garden). If i relied on just one of those plantings i may not see one pea. Seeds are cheap and the harvest can be buckets full. Once the weather warms, in go my pole beans right behind the peas, in, again, a three week planting, but way less thick. As they are getting a footing, the peas start to brown and crisp and pull out with ease. Planting a few varieties, (i go overboard with 15-20), will give lots of peas and beans as they have different growth times. Early on i had given up on peas for a few years thinking i had the wrong climate but now that i 'insurance' plant i get enough to give plenty away. I get all my peas from Johnny's. And a random pack here and there if i can't help myself from the nursery racks...those racks seem to have a 'buy me' magnet. I try not to look...