Little Marvel Peas (Pisum sativum var sativum)

Most home gardeners know certain varieties are consistently good performers for them. There are three ways to tell if a variety is a good performer for you general area. The first way is to pay close attention to the varieties being sold at local nurseries. Usually there will be one variety that is consistently sold at all of them. The second way is through word of mouth and the third is through trial and error. When you find a good performer you will likely plant that variety each year. So it is with Little Marvel Peas.

Little Marvel Peas

Little Marvel Peas (Pisum sativum var sativum) are consistently good performers for me. They are frost hardy so should be planted early in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked for an early season harvest and in mid to late summer for a late harvest. They mature in 64 days on compact plants making them ideal for square foot gardening. I will be growing a couple of Little Marvel peas indoors this winter as part of my continuous harvest plan.

There are 7 to 8 nice sized, sweet, tender peas per pod. The firm pods are almost round in diameter when the peas are ready for picking. The pods snap open easily for shelling. Pictured is an average sized pod from this year's

Harvest

Unless you grow a lot of pea plants it is difficult to get enough for more than fresh eating. My yield this year has been about a pint of shelled peas. That's not enough for preserving but they were quite tasty for fresh eating.

Pictured are a few of the shelled Little Marvel peas along various peppers from the garden. The Homesteader peas gave a very light yield of about 10 pods. The main problem was the peas were planted too late for a good harvest. Rather than try for fall planting I've decided to start both in pots indoors.

The peppers went into over drive so I've been picking a lot of those. They are such gorgeous colours! I can't help but smile when I see them peaking out through all the greenery.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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