Lady Cream Pea

Be sure to check out our Cow Pea Growing Guide for more tips & tricks on successfully growing cow peas in your garden.

Lady Cream Pea is an heirloom, open-pollinated southern pea variety that dates back to the 1800s. Also known as "Lady Finger Pea," this is a smaller field pea with an excellent creamy flavor. The plants are bushy and produce runners that will sprawl, but trellising is not necessary. Just be sure to give them plenty of room to sprawl.

Lady Cream Pea is a heat-tolerant variety that performs well in drier growing conditions. When planted in spring, it will continue to flower and set new pods into the summer months. It also can be grown as a fall crop when planted in late summer or early fall. The pods are set high on the plant so they're easy to find for quick harvesting.

Lady Cream Pea produces pods that are initially green and turn yellow once pods are ready to be harvested and shelled. Pods average 7-8" long with 14 peas per pod. These are delicious when prepared fresh, but also hold exceptionally-well when blanched and frozen or canned.

We recommend planting field peas using a walk-behind planter like our Hoss Garden Seeder. Use a #5 seed plate, but always check the hole size and modify if necessary. Field peas or cowpeas do very well when planted on double rows. Plant two rows about 6" apart, then skip over 3-4' and plant another double row. This will allow you to maximize garden space and produce more vegetables per square foot of garden. Peas should be harvested when pods are full and shelling is easy. If the pods do not shell easily, they likely need to stay on the plant longer.

Lady Cream Pea Planting Information

Planting Method: direct seed

When to Plant: after last frost

Planting Depth: 1"

Seed Spacing: 3-4"

Row Spacing: 3-4'

Days to Maturity: 60

Disease Resistance: None