Alderman peas

If the only peas you’ve ever tasted are those chalky greyish marbles from the grocery store’s freezr section, you’re really missing out!

Alderman peas are sweet, tender, and delicious.  They’ve got a depth of flavor, a “greenness,” that gives them flavor dimension.  Your body aches for something that tastes this fresh and healthy and good.

Peas are healthy for you AND your garden.  They’re a legume, which means they work in partnership with certain beneficial soil bacteria to capture nitrogen from the air and lock it into the soil so other plants can access it.  Peas are a great companion plant to our cool-season broccoli family plants (kale, collards, broccoli, caulflower, cabbage).

Peas are great for small gardens.  They give you a lot of crop for a small soil footprint, for instance on a trellis as a vertical crop.  Alderman pea vines grow about 3-4ft high, and you can fit 4-6 of them on a 12″ wide trellis.

In Southern California, plant peas beginning in October (you can plant them any time though the winter, until about February).  If you keep the vines harvested, Alderman peas will yield prolifically all season long.

You can get L.A.-local Alderman peas at Cityscape Seeds.