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Your dwarf gray sugar snow peas will have purple blossoms...that's the easy one for me to tell early on. The others you list should all be white flowered. The pods on the Sugar Pod 2 Snow Peas will be flat for quite awhile and the seeds will show though as small bumps. Pick them before the seeds grow large and the pods become rounder since the pods will be tough by then. The Burpeeana Early Peas will have pods that do not stay flat for long and do not show small seeds through the pod. Of course you want to leave this growing until the pods fill with good sized peas. I'd have trouble telling the Sugar Daddy Snaps from the Burpeeana's but since both are picked with rounded pods you can try them and see which has the fibrous pod.....BINGO...that's the Burpeeana and the other should be the tender snap pea, Sugar Daddy. In my garden, heights have not always agreed with the reported info. And some keep growing aller for a longer time and the height when flowering begins changes alot.

Mark, I can answer a few of your questions and I am attaching OSU Fall Garden Guide to help you with the planting times. The garden guide will work in reverse for the fall with those in the northern part of the state using the early date and those in the south the later one, which is just the opposite of what we do with the Spring Guide. I am attaching the guide because I do not have experience with growing peas in the fall. They are one of my favorite Spring crops but this year we got beat out of a couple of weeks of production by the weather. For that reason, I thought I might try to grow a few in the fall also. Your son has good taste in food if he eats peas by the bag. You will get a kick out of Diane's blog to see the result of Josie discovering that the peas were gone. It is called "The End of the World" and this is the link. http://agweb.okstate.edu/fourh/aitc/lessons/extras/facts/fallgarden.pdf Question 1 Yes, it's too late, and it's also too early, so just gather up your seeds and wait. Question 2 Since I don't know where you are, I can't answer that one, but you should be able to make a decision by using the OSU guide. I normally direct seed my peas but everything loves a sprouting pea so if you have a heavy wildlife problem, especially squirrels, you might want to think about that one. Leaves are edible, but the birds and squirrels seem to be most interested in the sprouted seed. 3. No predators for mine except the ones described in 2 above. Wind is an enemy tho, so make sure they are secured to something. 4. I plant peas and beans in regular garden soil, but I do add compost at planting time, but nothing after that. Peas are like beans and I would think if they needed anything extra it would be an innoculant made especially for peas. I never see that in stores but if you order your seeds a lot of the on-line companies have it. 5. I guess the answer is yes and no. I wouldn't call any that I have grown bush, but there are some shorter ones available. They all like to climb but they are relunctant to cling to anything other than another pea vine so you have to give them a little help. I will list what I grew this year: Mamouth Melting Sugar - These grew about two and half to three feet tall and I grew them on a chain link fence. The taste was OK but they are better picked young, in the flat pod stage. So while these are great for adding to a wok of stir fry, they were not my favorite for eating out of hand. Cascadia - These grew to about 3 feet high on teepees. I had some soft plastic tripod caps from Lee Valley Tools and I fed three pieces of 3/8 inch rebar into the openings and pushed the other end into the ground, then wound string around from rebar to rebar. They were very sturdy and worked out OK as long as I made sure the peas were secured by the string. The taste of this pea was very good, put I had to pick it right on time or the pod starting to separate from the peas. This didn't seem hurt the taste and as long as the pea was used whole wouldn't be much of an issue. Sugar Snap - I normally grow Sugar Snap only, but this year I was glad I had other choices because it didn't produce as well as it has in other years. This is a great tasting pea but I discovered by growing others along with it that I had been eating peas for over a week before this one started producing. This will grow to 5-6 feet tall and needs a good place to climb. Super Sugar Snap - This was the best pea I grew this year. It was productive and the taste was wonderful. I grew it on a cattle panel and weaved it through as it grew and sometimes added a small garden clip to make sure it would not blow over in the wind. I'm just really partial to vegetables that I can pick standing up and I feel that since growing upward gives more vine to produce on, yet still uses the same footprint in the valuable garden space below, that tall plants are the way to go. Although there was nothing wrong with the short peas, I prefer the tall ones. Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Gardening

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...