Pea shoots are great to grow in large pots in greenhouses and conservatories. Look at how much food it produces! A large pot can provide shoots for salads, sandwiches, and decoration for your dishes. Learn more about growing pea shoots in pots here!

In my garden, I have a little gallery of favorites that come back every year. The same vegetables, the same way of sowing, the same way of harvesting, the same way of eating. Sometimes I forget to mention them because they are so everyday and almost boring, in a nice way. The other day, I was reminded of this when I asked everyone in the family what they want me to grow this year.

"I want... well, a lot of all our regular vegetables", said my husband Philip. "You know, the stuff we eat every day. And I want plenty of it!"

Isn't that the best thing a gardener can hear?!

As I scroll through the spring pictures in my vast photo archive on my phone, it's green all the way through. And every spring, a bunch of pea shoot pictures resurface! Pea shoots have been a family favorite from the very beginning.  Many just see pea shoots as a little embellishment on the plate. In our family, pea shoots are the foundation of every salad! And now, in winter, it's time to make the first sowing out in the greenhouse. Because, yes - you can actually grow pea shoots in winter too!

Read more: Grow pea shoots indoors

Photo: Maria Fors Östberg

Photo: Ida Sjöö.

The pea shoots are growing beautifully in the box, and the clever layer underneath catches water so that I don't need to use a tray.

This picture is of pea shoots sown in the summer in large pots. It looks the same in the spring when they're sown in winter.

Growing in a greenhouse

I have many larger pots in my greenhouse that I prepare for the spring season already in the winter. I fill them up with bokashi compost and top them off with a layer of soil. They are then ready to house the little tomatoes, peppers, melons, and other plants. But before it's time to plant these crops, I can grow pea shoots in the pots for an early first harvest!

Read more: Growing snow peas in summer

It's so easy to grow pea shoots in pots, and I think that's why I keep forgetting to tell you about it every year.

Here's how you grow the pea shoots:

- Fill a pot (large or small) or a tray with soil.
- If it's not too cold, water the soil lightly (if it's too cold, see instructions below).
- Sprinkle yellow peas from the grocery store on the surface, close together.
- Cover with soil.
- Water a little more if the temperature is above freezing.
- If it's cold and snowy outside, you can instead put snow on top; it will melt and provide moisture to the soil.
- Put row cover or a piece of transparent plastic on top.
- Place in the greenhouse or in a cold conservatory.

How it starts! Pots filled with peas, soon to be covered. Easy as pie!

So, what happens now? Well, the seeds are waiting in the soil, swelling as they prepare to sprout. Then when the soil gets warm enough, the little pea shoots emerge. This usually happens really early. Then they grow quickly, even in the cold, and are ready for harvest long before any other vegetables in the garden!

A sowing of pea shoots in my garden i did last winter went like this:

January 15 - sowing
February - germination
March 20 - first harvest

Read more: Fast-growing vegetables ready in 5 weeks

I use common yellow peas from the grocery store for my sowing.

Pea shoots are inexpensive to grow, delicious to eat, and a lovely harvest early in the spring.

Pea shoots in pots for kids

Now that my children are older, they no longer join me in the garden as often as they used to. But when the children were younger, the large pots with pea shoots and other small vegetables were real kid magnets. The kids ate loads from these pots, grabbing big handfuls that were either shoved into their mouths or used to play with.

For those of you with small children who may not enjoy eating vegetables at the dinner table, you can try growing pea shoots and other leafy greens in pots on the ground. Perhaps your little ones will become curious and want to try it, just like mine did?

Even though the children are indeed older now, they still eat pea shoots - indoors. A tray of shoots on the dinner table quickly disappears as the teenagers munch on them in passing!

And a bonus tip for those of you with hamsters, guinea pigs or similar. Pea shoots are perfect to grow for your small animals at home!

More: Follow me on YouTube here!

Pea shoots just the right size, ready to for the dinner table!

Pea shoots in pots is the perfect way to start the season off with with a harvest where we later grow tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, for example. Photo: Maria Fors Östberg.

Growing pea shoots in beds

You can grow your pea shoots many other ways too of course, both outdoors and indoors. I've previously written about growing pea shoots in raised beds. And if you have a greenhouse, I recommend planting pea shoots directly into the soil, in raised or regular beds. Simply plant the peas in rows or in larger clumps by broadcast sowing them. It's just as easy to sow the peas now in winter, if the soil is thawed. If the soil is frozen, you can lay out the peas in rows on the ground and then cover them with thawed soil.

In other words, don't forget to grow pea shoots! It's the perfect early vegetable to start your season with.

/Sara Bäckmo at Skillnaden's