Seed Timing

Technically it's spring now, but I'll admit that its more "early spring" than "spring spring."  But on the rare sunny day that gets mixed in, a farmer gets tempted to plant.  I was recently reading the instructions on my pea packages and apparently starting the seedlings indoors is discouraged, and they should be planted outside "as soon as the soil can be worked."  With that advice under consideration and then ignored, I usual go ahead and start plants indoors, aiming for ~Presidents Day as ideal seeding time for peas.

Here's a comparison that backs up my thinking.  Check out these pictures taken today, the first one is of snow peas, planted outdoors on 2/24.  They're planted up against a nice warm piece of southern facing foundation.  Look how big they are (or aren't):

Ok, maybe you had to squint but they're there, right in the middle.  Now for comparison, here are some peas that I started on 3/15, indoors, then transplanted out the other day.  Time will tell which grow faster or produce more, but for plants that are about 4 weeks younger, these guys look pretty good:

In my experience-based opinion, it makes more sense to start peas indoors then transplant them out after they have 3+ leaf pairs.  This is because spring growing conditions are challenged by the reemergence of the local slug population.  Slugs like to eat my peas right at the surface as they first break ground, but they're less inclined to climb up to the higher leaves.  Hopefully these larger plants will have at least a fighting chance.