Different Types of Peas Explained For the Home Gardener

Before diving into the topic of how to grow peas in a home garden, we first need to discuss the different types of peas. That’s because the variety you choose will determine the best growing practices, like whether or not you need a green pea trellis.

There are a myriad of choices when it comes to peas: snow peas, sugar snap peas, sweet peas, and many more. Some require trellising, but some don’t. So today, let's take a stroll through the wonderful world of peas to talk about everything you need to know before you go out and buy pea seed to plant.

Easy Pea-sy 

When it comes to gardening, I like to break things down and make it easy peasy for you! The same holds true for helping you select the best varieties to plant in your garden. 

I hope you’ll use this blog post and others like types of cucumbers, types of lettuce, tomato plant varieties, types of corn, types of garlic, winter squash varieties, and types of summer squash to simplify your seed shopping.

After all, if you plant varieties that fit with your gardening style and growing conditions, they will just perform better for you. And if you grow varieties you actually eat and enjoy, you will have a better overall gardening experience.

The Different Types of Peas

When it comes to peas, the varieties seem endless! There is something out there for everyone. If you like a certain type of pea, chances are the next person likes a different type of pea.

But every edible pea plant that you come across is going to fall within two main groups, and those two main groups fall into three different subgroups. In this blog post, I will explain all 5 of those different types of peas to encompass all edible peas. 

There are also a lot of different types outside of edible peas that I won’t be covering, such as ornamental sweet peas; some are even poisonous! (That is why we don’t carry ornamental sweet peas in the MIgardener store, because we don’t want anyone to get them confused with the many edible pea seeds that we do carry.)

The two main groups of edible peas are self-supporting and non-self-supporting. No fancy agricultural terms here, just very literal naming. But the great thing is that you really can’t get confused.

• Self-Supporting - These pea plants support themselves because they are usually small and compact. When they’re planted in a row, they will support each other. You can definitely grow self-supporting peas on a trellis, but they won’t get very tall, so you might feel like it is a waste of a trellis.

• Non-Self-Supporting - As the name would imply, they don’t self-support, so you need to provide support for them, usually with some kind of green pea trellis.

The three different sub-groups of pea varieties are: snap peas, shelling peas, and snap/shelling peas.

Snap Peas

Snap pea pods are crunchy, sweet, and thick. To eat them, you would typically snap off the flower and stem end and eat the whole pod. That’s where they get their name.

You’ll often see them cooked in stir-fry or eaten fresh, dipped in Ranch dressing. I love a good snap pea myself! 

These peas aren’t grown for shelling. If you let a snap pea form seeds, the seeds will be starchy and not very good in texture or flavor, unlike shelling peas.

Snap peas can be self-supporting or non-self-supporting. For example, the Avalanche Snap Pea is a self-supporting snap pea, and the Sugar Snap Pea is a non-self-supporting variety.

Shelling Peas

The outer shell of shelling peas is a little stringy and tough, maybe even slightly bitter. These peas are shelled for the immature seeds inside, which are the green peas.

Shelling peas have been selected for having better-tasting, more palatable peas inside the formed pods. This is the typical pea you would buy frozen, serve as peas and rice, or use as baby food mashed peas. They are really delicious!

Shelling peas can be self-supporting or non-self-supporting. For example, the Thomas Laxton Pea is a self-supporting shelling pea, and the Green Arrow Pea is a non-self-supporting shelling variety.

Snap/Shelling Peas

This is the best of both worlds! These peas are a wonderful blend of snap peas and shelling peas.

They can be harvested immature and the whole pod eaten like a snap pea, or you can let them get mature, then shell and eat the peas inside.

Snap/shelling peas can be self-supporting or non-self-supporting, too. For example, the Lincoln Pea is a self-supporting snap/shelling pea, and the Oregon Giant Pea is a non-self-supporting variety.

Now that you know the different types of peas, you can ask yourself what you are looking for and what growing conditions you will have them in. That way, you can pick the very best variety for your garden this year!