Garden pea varieties have smooth or wrinkled seeds. The wrinkled-seeded varieties are generally sweeter and usually preferred for home use. Snap peas have been developed from garden peas to have low-fiber pods that can be snapped and eaten along with the immature peas inside. Snow peas are meant to be harvested as flat, tender pods before the peas inside develop at all.
Peas thrive in cool, moist weather and produce best in cool, moderate climates.
Early plantings normally produce larger yields than later plantings. Peas may be planted whenever the soil temperature is at least 45 F, and the soil is dry enough to till without its sticking to garden tools. Plantings of heat-tolerant varieties can be made in midsummer to late summer, to mature during cool fall days. Allow more days to the first killing frost than the listed number of days to maturity because cool fall days do not speed development of the crop as do the long, bright days of late spring. Allow 18 to 24 inches between single or pairs of rows.