owiebrain - This will be my first year growing sugar snap peas too...i know next to nuthing about peas :) but i found this...hope it helps

Here is a link that might be useful: Snap peas on Garden Web

Diane,

Super Sugar Snap peas are absolutely delicious. When my grandson, who was 3 at the time, would visit last summer we'd pick them and eat them right there on the spot. I think if you grow them, you'll be hooked.

Lynn (enabler in training)

Diane,

I second Mimi's report that Super Sugar Snaps are wonderful (and we like plain old Sugar Snaps just as much). I always stand and eat them right there in the garden while picking them, something you can do if you're organic and don't spray your plants with chemicals.

You can stir-fry them, eat them raw, cook them the way you like to cook green beans, etc. They are wonderful along with other raw veggies on a veggie tray with your favorite veggie dip, like buttermilk dressing or whatever.

In our Oklahoma climate, they are planted in Feb./Mar. (weather permitting) and the harvest begins a couple of months later. They produce until heat shuts them down. Up there at your new place, they might produce more deeply into summer than they will here.

The only problem I know of that people see with them occasionally is powdery mildew.

Dawn

Diane,

Don't take this to the bank, but if memory serves me correctly, sugar snap peas were originally a cross between snow peas and regular peas. So it may truly be the compromise you are looking for.

Seedmama

Sugar Snap Peas are a wonderful addition to the spring garden. I have looked out to see 7-8 inch peas with snow half way up and they still grow up to make a good crop. We eat them all raw, and mostly just in the garden. In addition, they are ready to eat at a time when you are craving the fresh stuff and little is ready.

Diane, On regular peas the pod has a bitter taste to me, and the snow peas will also get that way if you let the pea fill out. Sugar Snaps, on the other hand, have a sweet crisp pod even when the peas have gotten big.

A few years ago, I took a trip with 3 other women and we left just as the snow peas were producing well. I had a big bag of them in the car and we snacked on them like you might eat potato chips. In fact, we stayed in Quincy that night and the motel was horrible. LOL The next day we found better accomdations.

Sugar snaps get very tall so they need to be trellised, but they don't do a good job of clinging to the trellis. They cling very tightly to each other tho, so you need to tie a cord around the trellis when they are about a foot tall, to pull them in toward the trellis, then do that about every foot as they grow. If you don't, a hard wind will take them down. It is hard to ever pick them back up again because they are heavy and cling to each other and will break when you try to lift them, so it is important to make sure they are secured. The only problem that I ever had with powdery mildew was when I lived in souther Oklahoma.

Atwoods has seed packets for ten cents. Just so y'all know. ;)

I didn't get everything I needed by far, but I did pick up a few cheap herbs and flowers.

Jo

thanks a lot jo!! Yet another place I should try and avoid, LOL.

mike

Aaaa, Jo's another budding E-i-T too.

OK, y'all, Jo is back on the gardening bargain trail. Expect new updates almost daily from our primo shopper! : )

Thanks for all of the snap pea info! I see I'm going to have to acquire some for this year. Yum!

Ooh, I just checked the bulk seed list from that new store I found last week. Their listings for "edible pod" peas are:

Dwarf Grey Sugar
Early Snap (bush)
Mam. Melting Sugar
Sugar Snap

Those are in addition to the eight regular pea varieties they carry in bulk.

Diane

If jo is going to join in the enabling, I'm going to need a new sponsor. I can't get past Step 2. The best I can report is that I waited out Atwood's sale until I see what shows up my mailbox.

Seedmama

Last year I couldn't find the Sugar Snap Peas that I wanted, and the next time I placed a seed order, I ordered peas again and they sent a sub. Susan sent some in the seed swap so I grabbed onto those as one of my share, but decided to look at Walmart today. They didn't have the Sugar Snap that I wanted, but they did have one, so I bought 2 packs just in case I couldn't find the right one. Then I went next door to Lowe's and they had the right one, so I bought two more packs. Do you think I have enough now? LOL

So Carol, tell us what kind you really wanted so we can want them too! Pea seeds have a long shelf life, so no, you probably don't have enough.

I want to want what she wants. I feel like I am missing what could be the best sugar snap peas EVER, if only I knew what they were.

What do I need to want again?

Jo

Oh LORDY! This is really getting out-of-control!!!!! Seriously, you guys...breathe....wait...watch your mailboxes. If you have dirt...they will come.

Mike, did you EVER think that this thread would bring so many seed-desperate addicts to the surface??? Oh...wait...I guess I'm the one posting also...ha!

I was looking for Sugar Snap peas and Susan sent some but I wanted more because I normally plant a 16 foot cattle panel on both sides at a pretty close spacing. I found Cascadia Sugar Snap which I have never planted, but I bought 2 anyway. Then I went to Lowe's and found Super Sugar Snap which are just as good as Sugar Snap, so I bought 2 more. I already had Mammoth Melting Sugar which I got as a sub last year and which I will plant to use in the snow pea stage (when seeds just start to develop). In addition, seedmama, I am sending you a big honking bag of them so don't buy that one.

I think it is too late for an intervention for anybody here. Way, way, way too late!

i tried cascadia snap peas last year.
i liked them better than the suger snap peas
like eating candy while out in the garden they will be planted again this year!!!

Jeffnok - Nice to know. I will probably plant 2 panels of peas since I have so many seeds. I have several packs of plain ole garden peas as well, but I know I don't have room for everything. The sugar snaps get first priority.

Oh yes! I like big honking bags. I don't really know what means, but it was fun to say and I wanted to convey loads of enthusiasm as fast as my fingers would type.

Carol, you haven't heard from me because I'm speechless with anticipation. Plus it's hard to talk while drooling. I've been experiencing difficulty breathing and pain in my left arm. Seriously. If the mail doesn't come soon, I may not make it. Will someone please feed my family when I'm gone?

Joellen, where have you been? You are very funny!

Seedmama

Carol, why do you pick the Mammoth Melting as snow peas only? That's one of the bulk choices available to me so I'd like to pretend I know what I want on my next trip.

I figure the dwarf is out. Short people are inferior so short peas must be also.

The bush is out. I just don't swing that way.

That leaves me with Mammoth Melting and the Sugar Snap. If the MM aren't as good filled out, I'll go solely with SS. I want 'em plump!

Diane

Oh man, JO....why oh why did you tell me that??? I don't even think there is an atwoods here in my area, but now I am considering a drive there!

I like my addiction..I choose denial.

p-mac

I had no clue, I knew everyone here enjoyed collecting, sorting, and planting seeds. But I had no idea the addiction had spread all across our state, LOL.

Dawn

your are right we are all way to far gone. I think its time we all join together and tell the world, We will buy seeds whenever, however, and in mass quantities, and there is nothing you are anyone else can do about it, hahaha.

mike

oh by the way, I'm going to Atwoods at lunch today. Wish me luck!

I think y'all are losing control. It is madness, simply madness, to try to talk anyone here into staying away from the stores until after their seed swap packet arrives, isn't it?

Mike, Mike, Mike.....you think I'm going to say "no! don't do it", right? Nope. I say go for it. Buy seeds. Spend the money. Make yourself happy. There. I told you what you wanted to hear, right?

The caveat is that we expect you to report back here to tell everyone what your local Atwoods has in the store at the present time!

Dawn

confession: i bought 2 packets of spinach and more basil yesterday. they were just sitting there, and while i KNEW i had enough, i bought more because....well.... because.... i'm in trouble with this seed stuff, fo sho.

:) dody

Mike,
I don't know which hurts worse: Knowing that someone went without me, or knowing that I can't go.

Diane, I have read several things that say they are best as snow peas, so I asked the real expert, Dawn. That was also her opinion.

Reimer has this on them:
75 days. Pisum sativum. Plant produces high yields of 5" long snow peas. This variety has a distinctive sweet taste. Delicious in stir fry. Pick snow peas before seeds start to develop inside. High in viatmin A, B, and C. A heirloom variety from the USA. United States Department of Agriculture, NSL 5116. Plant Height: 48" tall. pk/50

Mike,

Forgive me for bringing this up, but do you know there is a separate forum at GW, just for swapping seeds? Distinct from that one is the Round Robin Exchange forum for those who want to swap seeds party style. Plus there are Exchange pages on many of the forums including Winter Sowing, Tomatoes, Peppers and beans. We have one here on the Oklahoma Garden forum, but it doesn't get used much. We just swap out in the open on the Discussions page.

Enabling ever after,
Seedmama

Thanks seedmama

I have noticed those exchanges, Im working on building up my collection so I would have something to offer in return if I decide to participate.

Thanks
Mike

Thanks, Carol. I think I'll just stick to the Sugar Snap for this year then.

Diane

Diane,

Some of the peas, like Mammoth Melting, seem to get...I don't know the precise word....not exactly tough, but maybe we could say a bit chewy or fibrous....as the peas fill out and size up. Whenever a seed packet or variety description says to harvest them small before the peas swell or size up or fill out, that's why,

I've never had a problem with the two varieties Sugar Snap and Super Sugar Snap getting tough or chewy or fibrous, and I let the peas swell and get pretty big before picking them. They are yummy. Some other sugar snaps just aren't as tasty to me as those two, but maybe that's just my taste buds. You know how we humans are--we all have taste buds that perceive flavor differently.

As an aside, if a Sugar Snap or Super Sugar Snap pea is hiding under heavy foliage and you don't see it and don't pick it, it eventually gets big and tough and then by the time you find it, it looks like a large green tomato hornworm. Once they look like that, they aren't even close to being edible.

Dawn

Well I went to the Atwoods in Broken Arrow and I can report that their Ferry-Morse seeds are 40% off. They had a good selection of veggies and flowers.

I left the store with.........NOTHING!!! Does this mean Im cured of my addiction?

Actually Im planning my flower beds and needed to do some research before I buy.

mike

Thanks, Dawn. I'm really, really looking forward to the "perfect" pea that pleases both hubby and me! Now if spring would just show up...

I did get hubby down to the basement today to start clearing up his massive piles of crap so I can have at least one of my shelves back. We'll head back down tomorrow to get the rest arranged and lights set up. Then I can start winter sowing at last. Ahh...

Mike, you bought nothing? You're either very, very sick or lying through your teeth. Or both.

Diane

Thanks, Dawn. I'm really, really looking forward to the "perfect" pea that pleases both hubby and me! Now if spring would just show up...

I did get hubby down to the basement today to start clearing up his massive piles of crap so I can have at least one of my shelves back. We'll head back down tomorrow to get the rest arranged and lights set up. Then I can start winter sowing at last. Ahh...

Mike, you bought nothing? You're either very, very sick or lying through your teeth. Or both.

Diane

I have no idea what happened up there with the double whammy. I blame it on Mike's refusal to buy seeds.

Diane

As usual, I'm late to the party!

Thanks Seedmama for the shout out....Melissa!! We LOVE seed swipers! Have you looked into Winter Sowing yet? No? Seedmama and I will be more than happy to help you find another addiction (cough), I mean wonderful hobby.

Lisa

Lisa,
Are you back from Haiti?

Mike,

I think it can mean only one thing....you already have one packet of every single seed they had on the rack. Well, at my house that's what it would mean.

So, are you saying that even at 40% off, nothing on the F-M rack is appealing?

We went to a Calloway's Nursery down in the Dallas area today and I didn't even go near the seed racks. I was too busy walking through the greenhouses admiring all the tropicals and blooming plants (the primulas were especially gorgeous) and inhaling the delicious aromas of all the herbs they had just put out in 3" and 4" pots. The air simply reeked of lavender, mint and basil, among other things, and it was heavenly.

I didn't buy a thing either. I wasn't really looking to buy anything. We were eating lunch at a place next door to the nursery, and there's no way I could walk out the restaurant door and go straight to the car, bypassing the nursery. I'm not down there often enough to ever miss a chance to stroll through the nursery in winter.

Diane,

A lot of wacky things have been happening on the forum lately. I keep writing responses to threads and then when I hit 'submit', nothing happens. Those responses are just out there floating around out in la-la land somewhere, and I'm tired of writing and rewriting and losing them. So, maybe it posted yours twice to make up for the one of mine that is lost in the Garden Web universe. I think those Garden Web Gnomes are messing with us again.

Lisa,

To echo what Seedmama said, you're back? How did it go? Did you get to take seeds with you?

Dawn

Dawn, I also experienced such wacky things few times. I learn to copy typed materiel to clipboard (cache!) before hitting 'submit', so that it secured typed material.

Yes FM are 40% off...American Seed Company (packets market 59 cents) are selling for ten cents.

I got two packets of French Marigolds, some kohlrabi, dill, sweet basil, and bunching onions for sixty cents total.

Sorta OT but can anyone reccommend a pretty orange climbing flower for my pyramid trellises? The pole beans I plnated under them last year didn't do well at all.

Jo

Jo,

Black-eyed Susan Vine is a very pretty climber that grows like mad at our house and reseeds itself. I haven't planted it in years, but have it everywhere. (Reseeding annuals like that are among my favorites because they come back every year on their own.)

You can find Black-eyed Susan Vine on the seed racks in the basic gold color, and maybe even in the "Blushing Susie" mix, depending on what the local nurseries carry, but for the orange-flowered one, it is likely you'll have to order it.

I think that one that has the best orange color is the one called "Superstar Orange".

I've linked one source below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail Garden Seeds

Seedmama and Dawn: Oh, I didn't go to Haiti, but a friend of mine hand carried all the seeds for me. She and her husband were headed there on a two week medical mission. This week she (and a bunch of other people!) are seeing all 850 kids from one organization, next week she is doing a medical mission for another set of orphanages/communities.

I am happy to report the seeds made it to Haiti safely :) I was chatting back and forth on Facebook to the director of the second group last night. She thinks I'm a fount of gardening knowledge...I laughed and said it is just cause I hang out with ya'll!

As long as I am in my current job, I will not be able to go on the mission trips. They always go in Jan/Feb, and Jan-June is our major busy time. I'm okay with that though. I enjoy helping coordinate on this end.

The hotel the group is staying at this week has good internet, so we've seen video and been able to FB chat with everyone. YAY for internet!

Today Denise should get to see the little girl that had open heart surgery in Dallas last fall.

Lisa

Lisa,

Oh, when you talked about how many seeds could be carried in a suitcase, I thought it was your suitcase!

I'm glad to hear your friend, the entire group and the seeds all arrived safely.

I remember that painfully thin Haitian girl in the photos before she had her surgery. I'm willing to be she'll be looking a bit healthier when Denise sees her. You'll have to tell us what Denise says after she has visited with her.

Dawn

Dawn, Diane

I couldnt believe it myself. I do already have all the veggies I "plan" on planting and some of the ones I want I know I dont have room for. But who knows that may change by the end of the day, LOL. I am going back to get some annual flowers today. I would have got them yesterday but I wanted to plan out my flower beds before i grabbed anything. And since Jo mentioned the American seed packs are also on sale I have a feeling the racks might get a little bit more empty.

Jo, thanks for that info. I didnt see any signs about the American seed packs just the F&M, so thats good to know.

mike

Dawn, the poor seeds had to fit in the last 10 lbs worth of space we had...and then someone came up and had made dresses for all the girls in the orphanage. ACK! We had them ship almost all of the clothes off to another team member who apparently had room in their suitcases!

Denise and her husband took 6 - 50 lb duffels, 2 carryons and 2 backpacks. They had to put all their personal items in the carryons because we had so much packed!

She told me last night the checkerboard games have been a hit.

You are right, Ruthe was SO thin. She filled out quite a bit before she went home. I know there was a small set back and she lives in area where the cholera outbreak started. I understand her village has a well, so she should be somewhat safe from the cholera.

I'm sure Denise will get a picture. I'll send you one when I see it.

Lisa

Atwoods report,lol

went back and picked up some of the $.10 annual flowers and some seed starting packs. The jiffy strips and flats are also on sale. One thing though the jiffy pots are shown to be 36 count in the flier but the store only had the 32.
jiffy pots 32 count $1.99 e
11x22 flats $.99 e

I also stopped at lowes and picked up a couple packs of Stargazer lilies for my wife. They have a special meaning for us and I didnt want them to get bought out. I have never planted lilies in winter only in fall. Should I keep them in a cool spot till spring or put them out now. Some of their oriental lily bulbs where already sprouting in the bag, none of mine are though.

mike

When we were at Atwoods last week, DH picked up 10...yes, TEN packets of turnips to plant in the back for the deer. There's something wrong with this picture, don't ya think??? LOL

Mike - I've always planted my stargazers in early spring and never had any problems with them. I don't see why you couldn't plant them now with the proper nutrients and just mulch over the top really well after you water them in.

Paula

Great thread. But you should really know that you need help when you notice a few seeds that you tucked away 5 or 6 or 7 years ago--just in case... Guilty!

Lisa, I can't wait to see Ruthie's new photo. It has always stuck in my mind how painfully thin she was. The cholera outbreak has been so horrendous. I am glad she and her family live in an area with a good well. That was a lot of luggage Denise & them took. Do they just bring home one suitcase full of other empty suitcases?

Mike, I expect you could plant them now too. Mine overwinter in the ground, and it isn't like our soil temps are below freezing or anything anyway.

Paula, Let's hope those seed packets didn't have a gazillion seeds in each pack. Turnips are so easy though. I grew them in our back yard the first year in completely unimproved clay and they did just fine, and it was a monstrously hot, dry year. I didn't think they'd even grow at all. I think turnips are amazingly tough.

Snowbishop, I'm guilty as charged too. I know I have some seed packets that date back to 2003.

Dawn

Deer like turnips, huh? Last fall I had a few turnips in the ground that I didn't bother to pull. When the rest of the garden was mostly gone, I let the chickens run in the garden. They ate all of the turnip greens that remained, but although the turnips heaved out of the ground and were in plain site, the chickens wouldn't touch them. I found that strange since it seems like chickens will usually eat just about anything.