Harvest
When to pick peas
The short answer
Shelling peas are ready when the pods are well filled. Mangetout and sugar snaps are picked at about 7.5cm, when the peas are just starting to form. Start at the bottom of the plant, pick every few days, and don't let pods mature on the plant, or it stops flowering.
Peas are a crop you keep picking. The plant is working towards seed, and every pod you leave to ripen tells it the job is done. Pick young and often and it keeps flowering.
When it's ready in the UK
RHS gives about 12 weeks from sowing for first earlies, 13 to 14 weeks for second earlies and 14 to 16 weeks for maincrops, and says a mix of types and varieties can give peas from June to October.
| Window | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pea: sow outsideFebruary to June | January: no | February: yes | March: yes | April: yes | May: yes | June: yes | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Pea: harvestMay to September | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Sugar Snap Pea: sow indoorsFebruary to March | January: no | February: yes | March: yes | April: no | May: no | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Sugar Snap Pea: sow outsideMarch to July | January: no | February: no | March: yes | April: yes | May: yes | June: yes | July: yes | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Sugar Snap Pea: plant outApril to May | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: yes | May: yes | June: no | July: no | August: no | September: no | October: no | November: no | December: no |
| Sugar Snap Pea: harvestJune to October | January: no | February: no | March: no | April: no | May: no | June: yes | July: yes | August: yes | September: yes | October: yes | November: no | December: no |
Months from Vercro's crop catalogue, the data the Vercro app plans with. It allows about 9 to 13 weeks from sowing to the first harvest. Weather, variety and where you garden move every one of these.
208 UK gardeners had recorded pea in Vercro by 19 September 2026. What Vercro gardens are growing.
How to tell it's ready
- Shelling peas: the pods are well filled. Garden Organic waits until the peas can be felt through the pod.(RHS, Garden Organic)
- Mangetout and sugar snaps: pods about 7.5cm long, with the peas just starting to form. Garden Organic picks mangetout while the pods are still flat.(RHS, Garden Organic)
How to harvest
What moves the date
- Type: first earlies about 12 weeks from sowing, second earlies 13 to 14, maincrops 14 to 16.(RHS)
If you leave it too long
- Pods left to mature stop the plant flowering, which ends the crop.(RHS)
After picking
- With a big crop, pick everything and freeze the surplus rather than leaving pods on the plants.(RHS)
Keep a record of what each bed gave
Log what you pick, and how much, bed by bed. Vercro keeps the record, so next year you know what worked where, and Today shows what your crops need next.
Keep going
Where this comes from
Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.
- Peas: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.
- Pea, Garden Organic. Read 19 September 2026.