So you’re thinking of growing your own sugar snap peas at home.. Where do I start? What do I need? Let me tell you – it could not be any easier. In fact, it’s probably one of the easiest vegetables I’ve grown.

Now I’m not an expert gardener, but I feel like if I can grow these in Ireland, then you can grow them too.

There’s two ways you can go about it – and I’ve done both with excellent results.

The first way – buy an all-in-one pot. Where you get the pot, soil and seeds together and you just need to sow the seeds and water. Super simple and if it’s your first time growing sugar snap peas at home – you may want to try this route first. You can usually find these at any garden store or sometimes even a dollar store. I found one once in a book store!

The second way – buy the seeds, soil and pot separately. Also an easy way but if you’re not planning on planting a ton of seeds or other vegetables, you may want to avoid purchasing an entire bag of soil.

Either way – growing sugar snap peas at home can even make the most amateur feel like a pro-gardener.

How I grew sugar snap pea seeds

Location: Southern Ireland
Date: Mid-May
Temperature: 5-15°C
Window: south facing
Harvested: Mid-July
Watered: Every other day-ish

When I planted the sugar snap pea seeds, it was around mid-to-late May. They flowered around mid-June and the peas were ready around Mid-July. All in all around two months in total. This was made possible by the cool-ish Irish temperatures.

Peas love cooler temps, so early-to-mid spring is the perfect time to sow your seeds in rich soil.

When you plant, you want the seed to be around 1-2cm in the soil. I usually plant 2-3 in a 4-inch pot, making sure they have room between them. If you choose to plant them in a square type pot, sow a line down one end of the pot (with 1-2 inches between each seed) and then another along the opposite side leaving a fair amount of room between the two lines.

Give your seeds a good watering.

To raise your chances of germination, I like to either cover the pot with cling wrap or place it in a freezer bag. This will keep in the moisture and humidity. Once your seeds germinate, I open it up little by little over a few days to acclimate the seedlings. If you do cover your pot, do not water when it’s completely covered.

Once the cover is off, I usually water a little bit (like 1/4 cup) every other morning. It really depends on your plant, the atmosphere etc. but a key tip is that I never let the soil get completely dry, but if it’s still sopping when you go to water, best to wait until it dries out more.

What you should expect

If you’re a first time sugar snap pea planter, you may not know what to expect. I sure didn’t!

These plants grow fairly quickly but what I didn’t know, was they they flowered first before the pea shells came in. Who knew? (…not me)

When harvesting your delicious loot, you want to feel them and make sure the pods are big, round and firm to the touch. Make sure peas don’t rattle around in their pod. Pluck them off the vine and keep them in the fridge for up to a week.

The peas below are from my plant!

I hope this article helps you out! Any questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments below and I will reply as soon as possible!