Winter’s Harvest: Peas and Carrots
by Barb Henny
Peas love our cold weather. Photo by Barb Henny
Cold days are perfect for planting peas. Chill-resistant plants, by definition, germinate at temperatures less than 50°F. When December’s high temperatures demand jackets, sweaters and gloves, and overnight lows bring frost, cold-tolerant peas are a great selection for the vegetable garden.
Variety names like ‘Freezonian’ and ‘Alaska’ give confidence that these plants thrive in winter conditions. Peas come in dwarf varieties, which grow 24 to 30 inches high when mature, and tall varieties, which climb 4 to 5 feet. I use a tall variety (snap pea ‘Super Sugar Snap’) that climbs to the top of a trellis and makes pea picking easy. I can harvest at maturity for traditional green peas, or if I can’t wait, I can pick edible pods for a stir-fry recipe.
A trellis along the sunny south wall of my tool shed supports my annual pea crop. In a pre-watered furrow, I sow seeds 1 to 2 inches apart at 1 to 1-1/2 inches deep. My sandy soil drains well and the warm southern exposure favors germination, but if your conditions warrant, order seeds pre-treated with fungicide to prevent infection during slow germination.
“Germination rates are affected by initial moisture content within the seed, seed coat characteristics, rate of water uptake and appropriate temperature,” says Dr. Jianjun Chen, Plant Physiologist at the University of Florida, MREC-Apopka Research Center. “Fresh seed is key to a good stand.”
Dr. Chen investigates cold tolerance and chilling injury on a variety of plants. “Selecting cold-tolerant cultivars and maintaining over-all plant vigor are also important factors for getting a good crop,” he says.
Peas germinate in 10 to14 days and mature in 50 to 70 days, depending on the variety and winter weather conditions, although immature pods can be snipped young for tender stir-fry and salads. Peas benefit from 2or 3 light applications of a well-balanced fertilizer.
Peas and carrots make a traditional side dish. Photo by Barb Henny
Winter winds can break the vines, so it is important to secure the plants to the trellis with twine. With my peas, the biggest pest problem is rabbits. A chicken wire fence solves it. Our trellis is 10 feet long and provides an abundant crop for two. One of our favorite uses for our pea harvest is combining peas with carrots to make a classic side dish.
Carrots also love Florida winters. They survive frost and light freezes, but suffer in summertime heat. Start carrot seeds from Labor Day through President’s Day (September through January).
The carrot variety pictured here, ‘Bolero’, was seeded directly into a 5-gallon pot filled with commercial potting soil. The soil did not contain pre-incorporated fertilizer. Fertilizer salts can burn delicate emerging seedlings. Water the soil before planting. Sprinkle seeds onto the soil surface then cover them to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch with a little more soil. Lightly water them in using a breaker nozzle. Maintaining even moisture is important for carrot germination and development.
Locate the pot in a warm, sunny location; seeds should germinate in 10 to 14 days. I start batches of carrots in pots every three weeks in October, November and December. The varieties I’ve grown in containers are ‘Danvers’, ‘Bolero’, ‘Sugar Snax’, ‘Nantes’, and ‘Napoli'. Once seedlings are established, thin them and apply a liquid fertilizer such as 20-20-20 at 1 teaspoon per gallon.
These containter-grown carrots are obviously thriving, and are already "snackable." Photo by Barb Henny
I keep my carrot pots in full sun, right alongside the trellises of peas. Like the peas that I harvest early as pods, I pull immature carrots eagerly, as soon as a nibble is possible. This keeps the crop thinned as the roots develop within the pots. I have no disease or insect pests in pot culture; even the rabbits can’t reach and chew my crop.
On the coldest January nights, if temperatures are predicted into the low 20s, I move the container carrots into my hobby greenhouse for a few nights. In late spring, as temperatures rise and the soil in the root zone gets too hot, I harvest all the carrots and store them in the refrigerator for use all summer.
Barb Henny enjoys raising vegetables in central Florida, whether in ground or in containers. She freezes peas and carrots for a year round supply.
©2014 Barb Henny. Originally published in Florida Gardening, Dec / Jan 2014. Reprinted by permission.