I'm located in either Zone 6 or Zone 7 depending on the map you use. I've been gardening for a decade, and I've always started them directly in the ground. My average last frost date is April 19 - only a few days after yours - so I suspect you could do the same if you wanted to.

Peas don't transplant well and I've found the peat pots don't break down fast enough to match the growth of the peas and their expanding root system, so I prefer to plant the seeds directly where they will be grown.

Peas are a cool season crop, dislike warm soils and hot temperatures and should be started as soon as the soil is workable and sufficiently dry. In my area, the trigger is President's Day but St. Patrick's Day is often used as a target date in cooler zones. Or 4-6 weeks before last frost. They will tolerate light frosts and even snow but not seriously cold temperatures. And they are best if done with some succession seeding, so I'd sow them in two week increments.

Thanks for the quick responses. I'll try starting them in the ground this year. Does St. Patrick's Day sound like a good start date given my average last frost date of April 16? Thank you!

That's about 4 weeks before last frost, so sounds good to me!! (FWIW, my last frost is midMarch, so the President's Day trigger date works the same way for me.)

I've never heard of peas planted in pots. Drect seeding is the way to go. Peas are large seeds, and they have a lot of what they need for coming up strong and vigorous. Not sure about seedlings, but pea plants are pretty frost tolerant. I've seen them take 24F without whimper.

You need so many peas to get a decent crop that starting them in pots would be massively labour intensive. Start them direct in the ground. You can bring the sowing date forward a bit if you can lay transparent plastic on the rows a couple of weeks before sowing. It will warm up the soil. After sowing replace the plastic until you see the shoots emerge.

I have never grown peas but they sound like a PITA, how many do you need for 2 people? Like a 50 ft row?

Nah!! A couple of 6 or 8 foot rows - like the length of a common sized raised bed - will do just fine. In my area we can get at least two crops before the heat and dryness of summer does them in and at least another crop (or 2) in early fall. If you are doing snap peas, they have an even shorter time to harvest and you might get more crops, weather permitting.

IME, they are one of the easiest vegetables to grow!!

Fair point about how many plants you need to get a sizable number of green spheres. I usually plant snow peas, and use them in salads, whole-pod. Ten feet will keep two people very well fed.

Yes - you'll get more crop if you sow a mangetout, rather than a pea-type pea. I agree they are definitely not a pita. Nice big easy-handle seeds, easy to sow and easy to grow. In my climate I can sow successionally but I imagine it gets too hot in summer for lots of people in the US. I grow 3 or 4 15 foot rows over 4 months for 2 of us. I sow in bands 6 inches wide with the seed 2 -3 inches apart in the band. It's hard to sow too many peas since each plant doesn't produce that much, unless of course you are eating the whole pod.

Yes, especially if you head toward the SW, it gets hot fast and there's not much time for cool season crops like peas. For us, they're kinda hit or miss, depending on the weather. The OP is farther east and probably has a better chance.

Way down here, I usually plant peas in November. Most winters they survive and produce well. But even then there isn't plenty of time, because the trellises I plant them on are used for cherry tomatoes starting in early March. In general, though, winter is plenty of time for cool season crops. Land-of-the-two-growing-seasons.

you need between 25-100 bush pea plants to produce 1 lb of fresh peas.

and between 13-50 pole pea plant to produce 1 lb of fresh peas.

source "How to Grow More Vegetable" by john Jeavson

peas can be transplanted if you have a big enough pot about 3 in and don't let them get to big.

Yes - they will transplant. It's the quantity you'd need to do which is the stumbling block imo. See byrd's numbers above. Do you want to transplant 100 plants for a pound of peas?

You could try the gutter method, if you have a gutter, somewhere to put it and spare hands to help carry it to the garden.

I germinate mine in wet towel and plant as soon as root appears. It gives them a bit of head start and also exclude not germinated seeds.

I prefer not to pregerminate because I never know exactly when I'll be able to sow them due to weather and commitments. If they have germinated and they can't be planted out, the radicle will die. You also have to be careful not to break off the radicle. By prewarming the soil with clear plastic you can save some time.

I don't do pregermination, but definitely give the seeds a deep soak before planting. That will speed things up considerably.

Thanks for all the advice! I will plan on putting down black plastic and soaking the seeds to give them a headstart. Looking forward to a hopefully easier approach to peas this year. :)

Clear will work far better at heating up soil thaN black

The question about clear versus black plastic for warming soil has been discussed regularly here. But yes, clear plastic is the way to go. You're trying to heat up the ground, not the plastic. Clear plastic allows the sunlight to hit the soil, which absorbs it efficiently, and the plastic holds in the heat. Black plastic never lets the sun touch the soil. Yep, the plastic gets hot, but the soil underneath it? Not necessarily.