Cooking Louisiana  -  No Till Peas
No till peas... my father "the inventor" tried this with field peas. I though he was kidding me but low and behold before long, I was out there picking peas. He planted something like a Dixie Lee, the ones I'm doing are purple hull. Dad would also plant the dry Camellia field peas you buy at the grocery, he loved those! Yes he actually planted the ones from the store and they came up.
All it takes is a nice sunny spot in your yard, some decent ground, a common lawn grass that doesn't get too tall (St. Augustine is one example) and you're good to go. Naturally this is for area 9 of the U.S. (southern region).

Get yourself 4 stakes, some string, pea seeds and fertilizer. Leave the shovel in the shed. Pass your lawnmower over the section you want to plant. Use the stakes and string to mark off your row. The reason it's marked off is so you don't run over it by mistake with the mower. Sprinkle the peas and a little fertilizer in the row (1 lb of peas per 30' row). Walk on the peas to make them fall below the grass towards the soil. Water well, then water every day late in the evening (unless it rains). You've got to keep the ground moist so they can take root.

After about five days you can pull one of the end stakes up and pass your lawn mower over the row (the peas won't be coming up yet). Try not to walk over the row. Place the stake back in place. This is the last time for the lawn mower. In about 10 to 14 days you'll be surprised!

Not only do you not have to till you can just run over the dead plants and the end of the season using a mulching attachment and leave the cut plants right there... bingo...fertilizer for next year's crop!

All I have here is one row, naturally you can do more if space allows.

Planting PeasHere's the 1st picture... you can plainly see the pea plants... we'll follow this through the growing season.

Purple Hull Peas Planted August 10th.

August 24th ----->

Planting Peas <-----Sept. 13th


These are planted in a lot that has wild grasses in it. Hopefully the peas will outrun the grass. If you have a regular lawn there should be no problem.

This technique works especially well in the fall because the grass growth starts to slow in late September. Planting Peas




Oct. 4th is the final picture ---->.