What’s the difference between peas and beans. Each year during the first few warm days of spring we get people coming in looking for plants. People coming in offering us money is always a good thing (especially after the long hard winter!) but often the notion of appropriate plants for cold weather (and soil) vs. warm weather (and soil!) is not at the forefront of their thinking.
Plants come in all shapes and sizes and they also have variable requirements when it comes to temperature as well. To get back to the example of peas and beans. The seeds look a bit alike (at least in terms of size). They are both legumes and produce pods with multiple seeds that you harvest to eat (or plant). They must have the same requirements then right?…well of course you could see this coming but the answer is no. Peas will readily germinate in cool soil so can be planted as soon as you can work your garden. They also don’t like the heat so if you don’t get them planted early enough the heat of the summer will be very hard on them. Beans on the other hand require warm soil to germinate and if you plant them with the peas in April will simply rot before the soil warms up enough for them to germinate. Even if they do germinate if we get any cold weather they will be decidedly unhappy and if we get frost it will kill them.
A short list of pea type crops both flowers and vegetables are; lettuce, cole crops, petunias, pansies and dianthus.
A short list of bean type crops are; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, impatiens, begonias and geraniums.
All the bean type crops will at best sit tight if the soil and air temperatures are not warm enough and at worst rot in the ground.
If you are ready to feel the sun, the rain, the earth and be overwhelmed with the choice of plants then come to see our greenhouses.