Peas on earth

By Kathryn Pankowski

That’s my wish for you this holiday season.

I’m the new JBNA Gardening Advocate; my ‘mission’ is to encourage more food growing in James Bay. Yes, I know its December. And that most of you live in apartments or condos. Never mind: it’s still possible to grow a few tasty treats on windowsills at this time of year, and pea shoots are one of the best. They’re fast and easy – a great project to do with kids – and you get a crunchy ‘gourmet’ green that is hard to find fresh at the grocery.

What you need:

An indoor spot with a bit of sunlight. East or west facing windows are fine.

Something to grow them in. Anything, as long as it can hold soil and has drainage holes. Peas like to grow long roots, so something fairly deep makes them happiest. A classic flower pot or window box works beautifully if you are feeling elegant. If funky recycling is more your style, then old tin cans, milk cartons with the top third cut off, even a child’s old rain boot will work every bit as well, as long as you remember to punch holes in the bottom. You’ll probably want a second, waterproof container to go underneath to protect your windowsill or furniture.

Potting soil that says it’s for indoor plants or for seed-starting.

Peas. Seed for any kind of edible peas will do. [Note for beginners: ornamental sweet peas, the ones with the flashy flowers and lovely scent, are not edible. Don’t go there.] You can make the trek to a garden centre or order seeds online, but it’s much easier to pick up dried peas at a grocery or health food store. Plain dried peas from bulk bins should grow perfectly well. Being cheap and lazy, I usually buy a bright blue box of “Batchelors Bigga Selected Marrowfats” from the British food section at Thrifty’s, mostly because the name makes me laugh.

What you do:

Pour out enough peas to cover roughly half the surface of your pot if they were in one layer with the sides touching.

Fill a cup or glass with room temperature water and soak the peas for about 2 hours. (Optional for the impatient.)

If your pot has a large drainage hole, you may want to lay something across it that will keep the dirt in but let water out. A flattish beach pebble with the salt washed off might do the trick, as will a bit of old window screen, a paper coffee filter, or a bit of kitchen muslin.

Fill your pot to about 2-3 cm from the top with potting soil.

When the peas have soaked, drain them and place them on top of the soil, distributed evenly with a bit of space among them. Then press them down gently so that the soil holds them in place.

Fill the pot to just below the brim with soil and water gently but well

Put your pot on its drip tray in your sunny spot and ignore it. If the soil surface gets quite dry, water again. The peas should appear within a week.

Continue to water whenever the soil feels dry or the pot seems very light when you pick it up. Give the pot a ¼ turn every few days, so the peas don’t lean over and press their noses (or whatever the equivalent is on a pea) up against the window.

When they have three pairs of leaves, you can start to harvest. If you want a few shoots for a garnish or snack, cut them off individually just above the lowest healthy looking pair of leaves. If you want the whole lot, cut across the pot with a pair of scissors, high enough that you leave a healthy pair of leaves on each stalk.

After sulking a bit, the peas will regrow and you can harvest them again. Most how-to articles claim that you can harvest three times, but I find the third cutting to be a bit tough, so prefer to use it lightly cooked, perhaps chopped up and added last thing to a stir fry or a soup.

Then cut off the peas at ground level, replace the top third or so of the soil, and start over. If you get addicted to pea shoots (not hard) you can get a two- or three-pot rotation going, so that there’s a fresh batch always coming along. After growing 5 or so batches of shoots, you might want to change all the soil in the pot.

If you’d like to hear about or help with neighbourhood gardening projects, drop me a line at jamesbaygardens@gmail.com. We’ll be getting going on a couple of projects early next year. Meanwhile, may you have a peas-full holiday season and may we all have a very green (and growing) New Year.