Pea – ‘Sumo’ Snow Pea

Description

Pisum sativum
(66 days) Open-pollinated. The Sumo cum laude of snow peas! Sumo is the best purple-flowered snow pea we’ve ever had. Its light lime-green pods are larger and fatter than Mammoth Melting Sugar’s and really sweet right off the vine as well as in stir-fries.

This amazing snow pea came to me via a Seeds of Diversity Grow out.They need to have seeds grown and returned to them to bulk up their seed bank and I get to keep a few and have now grown them out again to be able to offer some to you.

Vines grow 4–5′, must be staked. Sumo is not from Japan but from Australia and pods are set high and easy to pick.

Harvest snow peas before pods fill out.

Sow as early as ground can be worked for best yields. Minimum soil temperature for pea seed germination: 40°. Optimal range 50–75°. Peas are legumes with moderate fertility requirements. Avoid excess nitrogen: they can fix their own.They prefer cool, moist weather and dislike dry heat. All peas produce more when staked;  Plant 8–10 seeds/ft on each side of supports in double rows.

Young plants are very hardy but frost stops production at the blossom or pod stage. If you love peas as much as I do, try for a second crop in the fall. Timing is crucial, as peas ripen slowly in the cool of September, and frost will halt production.  If the summer is hot, cool the soil with a hay mulch in advance of planting, or shade peas with tall crops to hold in soil moisture.

Peas are 25% sucrose by weight and lose nearly half their sugars within 6 hours at room temperature. That’s why they taste best grazed right off the vine.

approx 25 seeds