Odds of cross pollination with other peas are pretty low unless they are interplanted, You should have no problems. All peas of this type are open pollinated. Worse case maybe an oddball plant or two in a major planting. On the other hand, this variety is readily available for about 6 bucks a lb. Labor and land usage to collect a lb of seed is much higher than that. If you enoy seed saving it will be worth it. If not you actually save money buying new seeds.

Thank you, farmerdill! I am not planting the field - I just have a small bed for peas. And I did plant this kind before, but didn't get the same results - pods were never that good, this is the most reason I wanted to collect seeds. Also, for home growers, you never can find all the seeds you need in the same place, so I am ending up paying like $10-12 including shipping per 50 seeds packet). I'll better collect) Thanks again!

"And I did plant this kind before, but didn't get the same results - pods were never that good."

Did you do something different this year? If not then it might be the weather. I do have to say that Sugar Snap always does well for me.

Rodney

I don't know if I did something different other then made higher trellis. What I planted before(having the same name) never grew same high as this year - it is about 8 feet high now. So may be what I got before only had the same name) That was several years ago, when I bought seeds in stores, not online.

Agree with Rodney. It sounds as if you are assuming it is the seeds that gave you such good results one year but not the other when actually 9 out of 10 times it was the different growing conditions, not the seeds, that made the difference. That is true for most all garden seeds. So saving the seeds from a good year doesn't mean you will have a good year with them next year too.

I'm big on seed saving but since Hirt's sells 400 seeds for $2.99 )which is more than enough for several years worth of planting in a bed such as you describe), you can't beat that cost of 0.007 cent per seed by doing the work of saving your own. Not to mention that you'd have to let them dry on the vine.

Dave

When I talk about "best peas" I don't mean best and biggest crop. I am talking about the pod itself, the shell of it. It is so tender, that even when seeds become overripe, the shell is still edible) I never had such experience before - do you think the quality of the pod shell can be related to growing conditions? And another question, how many years can you keep the pea seeds?

Properly stored - cool and dry - they are viable for at least 5-6 years. Even longer according to some over on the Seed Saving forum when they are stored in the fridge.

And can growing conditions affect the pod shell? Most definitely. Air temps especially as well as watering practices.

Dave

I think there are definite variations in pea strains, and I'm saving seeds from a shell pea I really like. But I agree that cultural conditions make a huge difference, especially planting date.

The wait for mature pea seeds is much shorter than many other veggies -- only about two extra weeks. The pea variety I like is expensive to buy, so my little knot of spoiled rotten seed plants should save me ten bucks.