by Lisa Giroday, Sandra Lopuch and Sam Philips | Summer peas have arrived! Are they a vegetable or fruit? Botanically speaking, peapods are a fruit, as they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. What kind are your faves, shelling, snap, or snow? It’s hard to choose. Shellings are nostalgic and have a real homesteader feel when you shell ’em; snap peas are finger food straight from the garden; and mixing strawberries and snap peas in a snack bowl is absolute heaven! And what about pea shoots? They’re a delicacy when garnished on pretty well every plate. Seriously, people should grow peas even if it’s just for the shoots. And don’t forget to sow the seeds in intervals so you can harvest said shoots in succession and not all at once. When cooking with peas, try pairing with dill. So good!

WHEN TO PLANT: Luckily, peas can be planted many times throughout the season – the first being as soon as the soil can be worked and the last in mid-August for a Fall crop! You’re not too late to get some peas in the ground, folks!

HOW TO PLANT: Peas will produce in a variety of light conditions. And yes, they can be sown in containers. One particularly good variety for containers is the shelling cultivar aptly named “Little Marvel” – an heirloom that is super productive and does not require trellising. No fuss! When sowing peas, be sure to use a magic ingredient called “inoculant”. It’s a fine powder comprised of beneficial bacteria called Rhizobia that help jumpstart the nitrogen-fixing process. Check this out: beans and peas fix the soil with nitrogen vs. drawing it out. They have nodes along their roots where the bacteria collect and draw nitrogen from the soil and environment. The nitrogen, after benefiting the plants, stays in the soil after harvest and fertilizes the soil. Inoculant is super easy to use: take a mason jar, add some peas, water, inoculant, and shake it up. Alternatively, mix it around in a bowl. No need to wait long, go ahead and sow the seeds. Because legumes, including peas, are considered a “nitrogen-fixing” plant, they are often used as a cover crop in the Fall to replenish soils. When we rotate our crops every season so as to avoid pests and nutrient depletion in the soil, we follow our pea crop with greens. Peas fix nitrogen and greens use it – how perfect is that?

WHEN TO HARVEST: When the shells of both snap and shelling cultivars are “puffy”.

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Victory Gardens is a team of local urban farmers for hire. Lisa, Sandra and Sam help transform tired or underused residential and commercial green spaces into food producing gardens. Their goal is to challenge the way communities use space and to participate in the change needed to consume food more sustainably. For the rest of the growing season, they’ve hooked up with Scout to share some cool tips and tricks on how to get the best from of our own backyards.