How to Grow Peas in Containers

Prepare Your Container

Cut a piece of plastic screening large enough to cover the drainage hole in the bottom of the container you've chosen. If you don't have screening, you can use a coffee filter or a piece of porous landscape fabric to cover the drainage hole.

Fill Your Container With Potting Mix

Pour potting mix into your container; stop filling at least 3 inches from the container rim. If your potting soil doesn't have fertilizer already included in its mixture, add in a general, all-purpose formula. Keep in mind that peas don't need much fertilizer—if you use too much, the nitrogen (a common ingredient in most fertilizers) will harm production, and the plants will produce large pods with small or no peas inside them. After filling your container, smooth out the soil, so it is relatively flat but not compacted.

Plant Your Pea Seeds

Though it's not mandatory, treating your pea seeds with a legume inoculant will produce a more significant pea yield and healthier plants. For faster germination, you can soak your seeds in water overnight. Then, while they're still wet, shake them in a bag with the inoculant.

Sow your peas evenly. Plant peas at least one inch apart. The number of peas depends on the surface area of the container. You can plant two peas together to increase the chance of germination in that spot. With the flat part of your hand, press them onto the surface of the soil, and then add 1 to 2 inches of soil on top of the seeds. (Make sure not to add more than that, or the peas might have trouble germinating.) Water your container deeply with a watering can or a hose nozzle set to a gentle spray.

Set Up a Trellis

Most pea varietals are climbing plants, so they need a trellis or support structure for the vines to climb. Peas do not naturally cling very well with their tendrils, so you might have to help them get started by using wire ties to secure the stems to the structure. Bamboo stakes tied together at the top with twine into a triangle shape work well. Or you can place your container near a deck or railing that can serve as a "trellis" for the plants.

Care for the Peas

Peas are relatively easy plants, so this is just about the only care required. Keep the soil moist but not wet as your pea seeds germinate, sprout, and begin to grow. And make sure that your containers receive at least six hours of full sunlight each day. Because you fertilized the potting soil before planting the seeds, no additional feeding is necessary—peas are legumes that naturally "fix" nitrogen into the soil by absorbing it from the air.

Harvest your pea pods as they ripen. For sugar snap peas, harvest them when the pods are still young, which is when they are the sweetest and tender. When harvesting English peas that you will shell, wait until the pods swell, letting you know that the peas inside are big and juicy. For snow peas, pick them from the plant before the peas inside become large and tough.