Southern Peas

As August settles over Zone 8a, southern peas — cowpeas, crowders, purple hulls, whatever you grew up calling them — are the crop that laughs at the heat. While the rest of the garden wilts in the afternoon sun, these keep setting pods, and they feed your soil with nitrogen while they do it.

Growing tips: Sow seeds right into warm soil in full sun, about 2 inches apart, and thin to 4–6 inches. They ask for almost nothing — no rich soil, no fuss, just warmth and an occasional deep soak. There is still time to direct-sow an early-August crop and beat first frost.

Harvest: For fresh shelling peas, pick when the pods are plump and full but still tender. Leave some on the vine to dry right in the pod if you want peas to store or to replant next year.

Tip: turn the spent vines back into the bed at season’s end — that free nitrogen is a gift to whatever you plant next.