Snow Pea Planting Companions
Snow peas like the cooler weather and usually work out best when you plant them early in the spring. Poke a few snow pea seeds into the soil when you can first work the ground. Next, start to think about your snow pea planting companions.
Companion planting with snow peas can help to make the most of your garden space. More than that, snow peas and other vegetables and herbs can grow harmoniously together, benefitting each other in some way.
Snow peas are delicious, healthy, and a lot of fun to grow! Discover the best snow pea planting companions and what not to plant near snow peas.
What to Plant Near Snow Peas: Planting Companions
In general, peas tend to be rather agreeable with quite a few plants. Consider these snow pea companion plants for mutual benefits in the garden.
- Carrots – Both carrots and snow peas thrive in the cooler temps and moist conditions.
- Radishes – Radishes love the nitrogen that peas add to the soil.
- Corn – Snow peas love to climb and will happily pull themselves up the corn stalks.
- Beans – Pole beans placed appropriately can help to shade snow peas, which they’ll need as the weather gets warmer.
- Potatoes – The nitrogen that snow peas bring to the soil also works well for potatoes.
- Cucumbers – Cucumbers and snow peas enjoy a similar growing environment, making them ideal companions. A trellis works well for both, and the cucumber leaves can help shade the peas as the weather grows hotter.
- Turnips – Also in favor of nitrogen-fixing snow peas, turnips will grow well at the base of your pea trellis.
- Basil – Basil’s rich and fragrant oils can repel pea pests such as thrips.
- Lettuce and Spinach – Leafy greens do well in the same growing conditions as snow peas. Trellises with plants growing up them will help to provide shade to lettuce, which bolts quickly in the summer heat.
- Nasturtiums – In a brilliant stroke of luck, pests like aphids will flock to nasturtiums instead of nearby snow pea plants.
I’ve read conflicting information on planting peas near cauliflower. Some resources suggest peas will stunt the growth of cauliflower while others say the nitrogen peas add to the soil will improve growing conditions for cauliflower.
Since the jury is split on this one, I’m going to avoid planting cauliflower near peas. If anyone knows for sure, please hit us up in the comments!
What Not to Plant Near Snow Peas
Planting partners to avoid are just as important as planting companions. Check out this advice for what not to plant near snow peas.
- Onions
- Garlic
- Leeks
- Shallots
- Scallions
- Chives
Final Thoughts: Snow Pea Planting Companions
Snow peas were one of our favorite veggies to grow last season. This year we’ve dedicated a whole 4×4 raised garden bed to our snow peas.
Then, we decided we needed to figure out some snow pea planting companions along with pickling cucumbers and a few different types of lettuce.
Our snow pea garden bed layout consists of a bamboo teepee for the peas with a smaller bamboo teepee inside the larger one.
We are training Boston and Chicago pickling cucumbers up the bamboo canes as a small trellis to make the most of our growing space.
It will be interesting to see how this planting layout goes. I’m now wondering if I should’ve started the cucumbers on the outside to sprawl out and provide shade for the peas since we got a later start planting this year.
I’ll be sure to come back and update with my findings!
09/16/21 – Editor’s Note: Our snow peas and cucumbers finished up a few weeks ago. We already have some new baby snow peas that must’ve dropped into the garden from the pods! I also planted a few more to try for a fall harvest.
Things seem to be going slowly so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
By the way, if you like this post, you might also want to check out How to: Growing Snow Pea Plants from Seed | Edible Pods!
Where do you grow your snow peas and what companion plants do you use? Let’s share best practices in the comments below. Feel free to ask questions or share your favorite tips!
