Crop type: Peas
Pisum sativum ‘Sugar Ann’
Common name: Sugarsnap pea ‘Sugar Ann’
Crop slug: peas
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile and its linked crop guidance. Check the sources and adjust cultivation decisions for local conditions.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Sugar Ann’ is an AGM early-cropping sugarsnap pea with a compact bushy annual habit. It yields well, producing fleshy, pale-green pods about 6cm long that are sweet-tasting and edible together with the peas inside. Its early maturity and self-supporting growth make it especially useful in small beds and containers.
Harvest pods young and frequently while crisp. The whole pod is the crop, unlike a garden pea grown only for shelling.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 0.5–1 metre
- Ultimate spread
- 0.1–0.5 metre
- Time to maturity
- one year; early cropping
- Pod size
- fleshy pale-green pods about 6cm long
Space seed roughly 7cm apart. The compact bushy plants should not require support, although a few twigs can steady them on an exposed plot.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Chalk, clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Preferred pH
- Acid, alkaline or neutral
Choose well-drained, humus-rich, moisture-retentive soil, preferably near neutral. Keep roots evenly moist from flowering through picking.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun
- Aspect
- East-, south- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H2
Sow when spring soil reaches about 10°C or start early plants indoors. Its low bushy habit is less exposed to wind than taller climbers.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
Bluish-green foliage has rounded leaflets, sometimes naturally marbled grey-silver, and ends in clinging tendrils. White spring and summer flowers form short, plump, pale-green sugarsnap pods with gently rounded sides.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Fabaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Habit
- Bushy annual
- Name status
- Accepted
Genus
Pisum is a very small genus of annual legumes. Compound tendril-bearing leaves grow on hollow stems; butterfly-shaped flowers develop into edible pods.
Safety
Young shoots, whole sugarsnap pods and peas are edible. Do not consume treated sowing seed.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Sow from early spring to early summer, placing seed 5cm deep and about 7cm apart in a double row within a 15cm-wide drill. The compact bush should stand without netting. Protect seed and seedlings from mice, pigeons, slugs and snails.
Water well as flowers open and again two weeks later. Pick the pale-green 6cm pods young and often, before they become coarse, to maintain the early high yield and sweet whole-pod quality.
Propagation
Propagate by seed, either directly or in deep modules for reliable early establishment.
Suggested locations
- Small vegetable plot
- Large container
- Supported or open raised bed
- Cottage or informal garden
- Early sugarsnap row
Pruning
No pruning is required. Frequent picking encourages further pods.
Pests
May be susceptible to pea moth, aphids, pea and bean weevil, thrips, pigeons, slugs, snails and mice. Use physical protection as needed.
Diseases
May be susceptible to powdery and downy mildews, foot and root rot, Fusarium wilt, grey mould, pea leaf and pod spot and viruses. Rotate the crop and avoid wetting foliage.