Sugar Snap Pea, Mega (Organic)
Pisum sativum. Green Sugar Snap. 60-70 days.
A semi-bush, green sugar snap pea that grows to 3′ tall. Mega benefits from a trellis but is short enough that it’s not necessary. Long, light-green pods are very sweet when extra plump. Juicy pods grow to 4” long and fill a basket faster than other, typically smaller, sugar snap peas. When we worked at Horton Road Organics, we fell in love with this variety. Mega is resistant to pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV), which helps it thrive in the heat when many other peas crash and burn. Released in 1994 by Idaho pea breeders, Crites-Moscow Growers. It was dropped by its commercial source due to lack of availability. This was worrisome to us because when peas get dropped from catalogs they often disappear completely since there are very few large scale pea seed growers. After 10 years of looking we finally found it being preserved by Prairie Garden Seeds in Saskatchewan, Canada, and are thankful to be able to bring it back.
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Direct sow 1” deep February through April in rows that are 12” apart. Thin seedlings to 3” spacing. Protecting early sowings from frost may help with early yields. Requires trellising; try T-posts and bailing twine.
Seed Saving
Collect seed from pods that are fully dry. Shell by hand or by dancing, winnow to clean. Test for dryness with a hammer – dry peas shatter. When seeds are very dry, freeze to kill weevils. Some cross-pollination may occur, but peas predominantly self-pollinate so no isolation is needed.
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