...and then there were peas

This year is the first time I have planted peas.  I wanted to try some more early/spring crops this year and peas sounded easy.  Plus, you can plant them in March so it gives an earlier start to the growing season.  Well, I can say with certainty 3 months later that the peas are a success!

(this morning's harvest)

They are just growing and growing and growing... everything I've read suggests picking them every 1-3 days, as they just continue to produce.  And boy, have they grown...  When I first put the seeds in, I planted them in two rows.  Once the seedlings popped up, I put in some 2-foot stakes (actually more like little sticks).

Things got kind of crazy.  So I added 5' sticks (the full version of the ones I'd originally broken in half to support what I thought were tiny, cute little pea plants).  As it turns out, these guys grow a lot taller than 5 feet.  And right now we have a literal jungle of peas that have latched on to the sticks, each other, and the deer netting.  I like to think I run a pretty tight ship in this little garden of mine, but it's total mutiny in the box where the peas are growing.

this is just a small section of Pea Jungle.  Can you see the sideways and outward LEAN?

But, much like a misbehaving but adorable child or pet, these guys get away with their unruly behavior.  Because literally EVERY TIME I go into the backyard, there are new fat sugar snap peas ready to be picked.  Next year, though - I will purchase MUCH bigger sticks.