Dave, the field peas as per dilla's link and of what are typically used for "split-pea" soup are of the same family as "english peas" or "green peas", brought from europe to NA: pisum sativum. Southern peas or cowpeas of course as you know are the family Vigna from africa and have a dramatically different taste from pisum(IMO), Yeah, I know. Thus the use of "moniker" as opposed to genus or family since many use the common labels interchangeably, incorrectly but still interchangeably. A long discussion over on the Harvest forum some months back came up with several more alternate labels for them but I can't recall all the "we call them" names folks came up with. Sorry if any confusion. But whatever one calls them, they still are not productive enough in the typical home garden to off-set their inexpensive store-bought cost. Dave

I just want to bump this one for another chance. If anyone in the Tucson area has ever attempted this I'd like to know. It's a bit of a stretch to fit in a mid-NOV through early-MAR crop of peas and expect a fully ripe crop, but I was wondering if anyone has tried this in Tucson-area and what kind of yield (if any) they got by late FEB/early MAR. I'm interested in using them as a source of mild N fixation (they're not the best legumes for the job compared with many other cover crops) as well as a source of compost-quality green material for soil building...as well as the whole food thing.

1) Peas tolerate pretty cold weather. I plant mine as soon as the ground can be worked in very earliest spring -- planted them this year the last weekend in March here in Michigan. They had a few light snowfalls on them, which didn't hurt them a bit. You have about a four week window of optimal timing in early spring to plant -- if you plant them too late, they won't do as well. 2) You can go ahead and replant a second, fall crop in the same exact place you planted the spring crop, assuming the first crop didn't seem to have a lot of root rots or similar diseases. Long term, it's good to rotate your crops, though. 3) You can transplant peas quite successfully from cell packs, peat pots, etc., as long as you don't disturb the roots too much during the process. The key is to plant three to four peas in a cell pack, so that they'll make a nice, full rootball which will pop out cleanly and easily. And, they should be transplanted before they get over about four inches tall, or they become a tangled mess. But, really, they grow so easily direct seeded, that overall, it's probably not worth the effort to grow transplants. 4) Peas fix their own nitrogen, and a LEGUME INNOCULANT made for peas will help them. Many garden centers and most mail order seed catalogs carry this stuff. Also, any good fertilizer which is relatively balanced should be fine for them. I usually just use something like a 12-12-12 or 19-19-19 on my vegetable garden, making three to four to as many as five or six applications, depending upon the crop. I do the first one just before I am ready to plant in very early spring, another when things are up and about four weeks old, then repeat every two or three weeks for the crop's life. I can't tell you exactly what rate, I just take some in a bucket and scatter it about until it looks "right," something you learn by trial and error over the years. Then, I like to water it in. I often try to put it down just before a rain to accomplish this.

I have zero experience with AWP's and near zero knowledge about them. I found multiple sources, but many have poor ratings and should probably be avoided. The only source I found with good or great ratings was Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds www.rareseeds.com. They have a very good ("Top Five") G.WD. rating. BTW, the botanical name for Australian Winter Pea is Pisum sativum v. arvense or Pisum arvense.