Just replant, no soaking, it's not necessary. I just planted my peas 3 days ago. They'll be up in a few days.

First, you need to look at the long-range forecast and your social calendar before starting to soak peas (or beans)!
Soaking peas overnight is fine. Longer and they drown just like any non-pond plant that remains waterlogged too long! (Actually they turn slimy & smell!)
I usually use a plastic freezer box or recycled yogurt container, etc., in which to soak my peas so they are not piled too deeply and cover them with warm water. (You do not have to keep it warm - just on the kitchen counter is fine!) Next day, drain & rinse 3 times a day only for a day or two until the tiny sprouts just begin to show. Longer sprouts may break off when planting and that is the end of that seedâÂÂs life!
At this point if the weather is not cooperative, I put into the container a lightly-crumpled piece of newspaper or paper towel atop the seeds, put the lid on, and set the container upside-down in the veggie drawer of the fridge. Putting them upside down allows the paper to absorb excess moisture, and peas can tolerate 40 degrees OK for a while, just go into hibernation sort of. :-)
Have your soil prepared nice & loose, make the furrow(s) and water the empty furrow if it is not already moist. (Watering after putting in the seed makes the seed move around and there go your nice straight rows! LOL) Sprinkle seed with legume inoculant (or sprinkle it in the row, depending on what kind you bought), and lightly firm the seed into the soil, then cover lightly with an inch or so of soil. I like to dig the furrows several inches deep and after the pea plants are several inches high backfill the plants with more soil. Sometimes I have to sprinkle on a little more soil early on as pea seed sometimes tends to reappear on the soil surface as they sprout, especially if it rains and dislodges the seed.
I plant my peas on brush (always seem to have some trimmings from mid-winter pruning of fruit trees, etc.) and once they are well up tuck a lot of straw or chopped leaves around them after a good rain to keep the soil moist & the roots cool as peas prefer.
Good luck, dolivo!

Thanks for your replys and help. So if im understading correctly befween the lines, my peas most likely will not be showing themselves- i killed them with the soaking.?

Yeah, you killed the peas by soaking them for WAY too long.

I only soak my peas for an hour or two in room temperature water, drain them briefly, and then I pre-sprout them by wrapping them up in damp paper towels inside of a plastic bag. I check on them every day and when I start to see roots I plant them outside.

Rodney

ok thanks. well, guess I got some free space for other stuff since it's too late to replant. oh well.

You should be able to find pea plants at your local nursery that are already sprouted and growing. Even Walmart is carrying sugar snap peas this year.

Ok thanks everybody for your help!

I cannot imagine buying started pea (or bean) plants! That is crazy! Surely they are way more expensive than another packet of seed, and pea seeds sprouts fast--it's not like you are trying to start some fiddly perennial flower that takes weeks of care in order to get it to germinate. Plus I would not think they would transplant well at all. But of course, garden centers will sell anything they think they can get suckers to buy!!

BTW, what part of the U.S. are you in, dolivo, that you say it is too late to plant more peas? We always can help folks more if you put your general location & growing zone in with your name (see how I do). I promise we will not hunt you down for any reason!!
May be too late if you are south of the Mason-Dixon line--but in that case, get more peas and plant them in the fall. We do that even up here in Ohio and points north. In fact, some of my best harvests have come from late summer/early fall pea plantings. Don't give up so easily!

It shouldn't be too late to plant more peas. They should sprout in about 7-10 days if the soil is at the proper temp. Or you could always plant them later this year for a fall harvest, as weedlady suggests.

Rodney

I am in Billings, mt in north central montana. Some maps say im zone 4 some say zone 5. I was told to plant peas in early spring as soon as ground can be worked. A lot of people use st paddys day as a marker for planting peas. Im just afraid it will get too warm for them,
. Maybe ill do a fall crop. When should i plant them for a fall crop?

Oh, yikes--Montana... zone 4 would be too cold too quickly for a fall crop. A lot could depend on your specific area/microclimate; according to the USDA zone map, Billings can include zones 5a-b and a bit of 4b. You always could check with your local county extension for advice (your tax $$ at work!).They could best advise you when to plant for a fall crop.Yellowstone County Extension
217 N 27th St, Billings, Mt
(406) 657-2347 âÂÂ
But remember there are ways to fool Mother Nature! Eliot Coleman, up in Maine, gardens all 4 seasons by using various row covers.
I have used Reemay and also those corrugated fiberglass or poly roofing panels with good success even for lettuce and other salad crops well into cold weather.
Where there's a will, there's a way!! You would do well to read the catalogs and get peas that do not get too tall, too... Easier to cover!
Let us know how it goes!

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA hardiness zone map

Weedlady, I meant to say SOUth central montana, not north, but I'm sure you figured that out. :-)
Thanks for all the good information. I will check out what the extension service says and keep you updated!
My hubby built me a nice raised bed today. 4x10 and 12" deep.
Sometimes I think peas are too much work for too little reward. lol. but my hubby likes them.

I've had success with peas pre-soaked 2, maybe even 3 days, with the little root (radicle?) already almost an inch long. Beware of "as soon as the ground can be worked;" there's a thread somewhere about this. I know that if the soil is too wet and cold the seed will rot before it can germinate. That's why I pre soak, on the theory that once sprouted they'll be less prone to rot. I have no idea whether that's really true but I think it's worked for me.

This year I planted my first peas in a row mounded about 6" higher than the surrounding soil (for drainage) and with a plastic cover for frost & rain protection. They emerged despite a couple of nights of light frost and have kept growing through a few of about -3.5C.

Elsewhere someone praised a pea called Alaska, for hardiness & early maturity. I'm trying it myself this year.

Raised beds are the best!
I agree about the work involved with peas. That's why I grow snow peas and snap peas as well as shelling peas. When I pick a big bowlful of shelling peas, I plunk them down with 2 empty bowls into my husband's lap as he is sitting watching ESPN and he mindlessly shells them for us! Peas in one bowl, pods in the other... Usually he does not get them mixed up, but I still double-check. LOL

VanIsle, it is true that most seeds do need a bit more wamth to germinate but then are tolerant of cooler temps once growth begins and that is one good reason for pre-soaking - hopefully to avoid the rotting.
A plastic cover can certainly help. I will cover if I think we are getting too much rain. Out your way, I guess that can happen fairly commonly. ;-)
Beautiful area, tho, Hubby & I just were up that way for the first time a few weeks ago. SO green!!! (Vancouver & Seattle.)

Vanisle_bc, thanks for the input :-) ill look into those alaska peas.
Weedlady, i like your method for getting your peas shelled. Ill have to try that sometime!

I saw the title of your post and thought, oops, I forgot to soak my peas this year!! But, they sprouted great in about the same time as usual. 4-5 days. Just thought I would mention that, for anyone who would like to skip that step.

It really isn't necessary to soak peas. You might gain a day or two over waiting for them to swell just from moisture in the ground but against that there's the convenience factor and being sure you'll have time to plant them when they need to be. I never soak them because the weather is too unpredictable to know exactly when I can sow them. Seems to me peas are not at all complicated. You just sow them (easy because they're big), water, if necessary, and wait.

Flora in the UK makes a very valid point. Generally speaking, I doubt that the couple of days gained by pre-sprouting is worth stressing over. The main reason I do it is that peas are going into the chilly, wet, ground of early spring, and because (as addressed in an earlier post) they will grow at a lower temperature than necessary for germination, I figure I am getting a head start.
One caveat, though, that I think has not specifically been mentioned here is that, once the peas have been soaked & begun to sprout, one must be certain they do not dry out, whether in the sprouting container or once in the ground or that is the end of those seeds! So if you put them into the ground, either expect to monitor moisture in the top couple of inches each day or cover them with, say, some strips of cardboard or newspaper to ensure the row stays moist.
Oh--and regarding Alaska peas: these are great pea-shooter peas as they are quite round and unwrinkled. LOL Their smoothness tells you that they are better grown with pea soup in mind as they are not a particularly sweet pea. The sweeter the pea, the more wrinkled is the dry seed. Jus' sayin'. :-)

Now I have to go grind up some of my super-hot dried pepper pods and sprinkle the powder along my pea rows. Seems that although I have laid chicken wire over the bed to discourage the squirrels from digging, the chipmunks slip under it and have dug up the ends of the rows to eat the seed. They did this last year to my squash & cuke seed, the little buggers. I would mention here that I am considering getting a couple of cats to live in my shed, but that would bring down upon me the wrath of folks who decry the songbirds killed by cats. So, SSSHHHHHH! Don't tell!

weedlady - for me it's mice. I also use chicken wire but I have to make sure it's flat on the ground, either held down with stones or pegs. I'm trying adding a load of rosemary trimmings this year on the smell principle. The local allotment cats are rubbish hunters.

Flora,
Normally I do pin down the wire. Got careless/forgetful! Considering putting floating row cover over the bed...also thinking of doing that in the garlic/onion/salad crops bed. I use PVC pipe arches to support the fabric above the plants.
Yesterday, when I was otherwise tied up, was a perfectly lovely warm, sunny day. Awoke this AM to drizzing rain. Great for what's already seeded (like my peas!) but stymied my outdoor plans!
Means I have to clean house--hubby sometimes prays for a rainy day since that's when housework gets done in gardening season! LOL Also working on a power point presentation I'm giving next Sat.

just wondering if it would be easier to work with mr. squirrel and mr. chipmunk than agaisnt them. If you threw out peanuts and seeds specificcaly for them, away from your garden, do you think that might keep them happy and stop them from digging up your peas?
I just ask because we've got a couple squirrels in our backyard and our neighbor throws them peanuts all the time. I've never had a problem with them bothering my garden at all. (knock on wood)

HAH! What a dreamer you are! We have 3 black walnuts and 2 big burr oaks within 25-50 yards of the garden, and a couple of shagbark hickories within 75 yards. These rodents are not going hungry! In addition, every other year, the farm field within 25-30 yards is given to corn, and there always are unharvested ears in fall & winter.
The squirrels go after my ground cherries & possibly the currants, and last year, the first year my young dwarf peach & nectarine trees bore fruit, they took every fruit before the it was ripe enough to pick. Another problem with those critters is that they love to dig in my raised beds, either hunting for or burying their nuts & acorns in the soft soil. And the ones they forget about, sprout. That squirrels remember or can smell where each of their little treasures is buried is, in my experience, a myth!

Until we partially-buried sections of woven wire fencing and added bricks for good measure all around the perimeter of the garden shed, skunks and who knows what else lived under there. The chipmunks go thru the 2" x 4" wire fence and I am pretty sure can go thru chicken wire. I'd use hardware cloth but it is too expensive to do the perimeter.
But I count my blessings: no gophers in Ohio, and, by some miracle, there are no groundhogs nearby. (Sound of knocking wood!) They truly were the bane of my garden in PA.
Our next-door neighbor thought the whistle-pig babies that lived under THEIR garden shed were "just the cutest things!" Grrrr...

ok i guess I am a dreamer. lol. I do feel grateful now that I don't have the critter problems that some others have. We have two dogs in our backyard that seem to keep them away. I did have a rabbit problem last summer with a wascally wabbit who kept eating my flowers. However, a fast moving car took care of that problem for me mid summer. (and NO, it wasn't me!) lol. but I wasn't too broken up about it either......

A couple of summers ago as I was poking among the heavily-straw-mulched potato bed looking to nick a few new taters, I discovered a nest of baby bunnies in the middle of the bed. (My beds are about 18" high, no obstacle to a rabbit!)
Hm. I pondered.
The result of my pondering was to lift the nest, babies & all, and relocate it to the edge of the cornfield (well, it was soybeans that year). So, I knew it was unlikely that mom bunny found her offspring; most likely a night-prowling critter did (we have raccoons, skunks, coyotes, possums, the occasional fox, etc.) but, hey -- "cycle of life" and all that.
Previous occupants here (we moved in 5 years ago) had a chocolate lab and a couple of cats. No problems the first few years in the garden; apparently it took the varmint population several years to react to the absence, but for the last couple of years now, they're baaaaack...

We do have a couple of hawks that visit periodically. I cheer them on. Neighbor behind us has a pond and I did not tell him when I saw one of the redtails fly off with a big ol' bullfrog dangling from his claws! I like the frogs, too, but hate the rodents more!

Ahhh.... nature and the fun we have with it!