17 of the Best Shelling Pea Varieties to Grow in Your Garden

We’re here to look at the best varieties of shelling peas, Pisum sativum, to grow in your garden. But first I have a confession to make.

I love to make very strong recommendations about what people should do in almost every situation. And I like it even better when people follow my advice.

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But here, I simply cannot tell you which English pea to select!

When we’re talking about peas, there are just so many good ones. And there are personal reasons why you might like one variety instead of another.

Some are extra short, for example, or very quick to produce. Others have purple pods – and how can you resist pods that are purple?

Instead of pushing just one “best” choice, I’m going to present 17 of the best, and let you narrow down your options based on your individual growing situation.

Here are the varieties we’ll cover:

17 of the Best Shelling Peas

These vigorous four-foot vines produce a harvest 57 days after sowing, so even gardeners in regions where spring is cool and frosty can enjoy homegrown English peas. (This does indeed include Alaskans!)

‘Alaska Early’ comes in handy for folks coping with early-onset summers, too, because you’ll have picked and eaten quarts already and maybe frozen some more before the heat halts production.

And you don’t have to sacrifice taste or yield for the speedy harvest, since this hybrid variety yields five to eight plump, sweet seeds in each two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half-inch pod.

‘Alaska Early’

Keep them picked and they’ll keep producing as long as their cool-weather growing needs are met.

Find ‘Alaska