Not A Good Year For Peas

After going like gangbusters for the past few years, this year's crop of both Sugar Snap and Oregon Green Giant peas was much more of a bust than a gang.

Puny Looking Pea Plants

In fact, a few of the vines withered up and never even really made it onto the strings that Cindy had installed for them, and those that did attach didn't climb very far up the strings.  This is surprising since they have done so well in previous years.

We have no idea why they have been so lackluster this year; there could be some pest that has attacked the plants or something in the soil, but this is all just a guess.

One thing we did notice when we ate some of the Sugar Snaps was that the pods were much thicker and tougher this year than in previous years, although the peas within the pods were succulent and tasty.  Again, we're not sure why this happened, but one guess is that it might be due to the hotter weather we had earlier in the spring; it may be that the pods became tougher to protect the peas themselves.

One thing for sure is that this crop of peas won't take up much space in the freezer this year; that's a good thing because we're still working on the green beans from last year and two years ago.