Boogie Dwarf Pea

The Boogie Pea (Pisum sativum in Latin) is a full-season variety that offers excellent yields, with each pod containing up to 9 tender and sweet peas. This vigorous pea is resistant to all the most common diseases, including powdery mildew, making it well-suited for late sowing. It is a plant that produces relatively few leaves, making harvesting easy. It can be sown from March to June for a harvest from June to September.

The Pea is an annual vegetable belonging to the Fabaceae family (formerly Leguminosae) and has its ancient origins in the Middle East. It is one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in Europe and Asia. It was long consumed dried and crushed before cooking, and its fresh consumption is relatively recent.

There are many varieties of peas: dwarf or climbing (pole) varieties that produce pods filled with smooth or wrinkled round peas. They are cooked after being shelled because the parchment-like pod in which they are enclosed is not edible. Only snow peas (with flat, crunchy, and buttery pods) are consumed in their entirety.

Generally, climbing peas are more productive, but they are less early and require a support 1.5 to 2 metres (5 to 7 feet) high for them to climb. Their harvest is easy. Dwarf or semi-dwarf peas only require a few branches (from 50cm (20in) to 1 metre (3 feet)) as poles. Some recent varieties, in which the foliage is largely replaced by tendrils, support themselves, and the use of poles is then optional.

Smooth-grain peas are resistant to spring cold. They are very early or early varieties that can be sown very early under cover, but they do not appreciate excessive heat.

For late spring and early summer sowings, wrinkled-grain varieties are used, which have a sweeter flavour, tolerate heat, and offer longer harvests.

Peas are highly appreciated as a spring vegetable, but by carefully choosing varieties, they can be harvested over a long period from June to September.

In cooking, peas can be eaten raw, but they are traditionally cooked to accompany meat and fish or to prepare delicious soups. They are quite calorie-rich as they are high in carbohydrates, and contain a lot of fibre, iron, and vitamins C and B9.

Peas like mild and humid climates but suffer under extreme weather conditions such as excessive heat, frost, and both water shortage and excess, which weaken them and make them susceptible to powdery mildew and the pea moth, a small caterpillar that eats the seeds.

Harvest: Depending on the variety, peas are harvested between two and a half and four months after sowing. Harvesting should be regular and take place when the pods feel full under finger pressure. Don't wait too long... peas tend to harden as they age!

Storage: Fresh peas can be stored, unshelled, in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. They freeze very well once blanched in boiling water.

Gardener's tip: Peas, like all legumes, can fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, acting as a green fertiliser. This nitrogen supply benefits both neighboring plants and those that will be planted subsequently in a crop rotation scheme.