Southern pea
Vigna unguiculata
The summer legume for this region: tolerates heat, sand and drought, and fixes its own nitrogen.
When to plant in Washington
- Direct sowOpens in 23 weeks
March 15, 2027 – August 31, 2027
UF/IFAS North Florida planting dates: mid-March to August. The guide writes this as "mid March" rather than as a date; the 15th is this platform's reading of it and the boundary is soft.
- HarvestOpen now
May 29, 2026 – November 29, 2026
Derived, not published as a window by the guide: the mid-March to August planting plus the guide's 75–90 days to harvest from sowing.
Growing it
- Days to maturity
- 75–90
- Sun
- Full Sun
Southern peas are direct sown across a long summer window and are one of the few things that will crop through a Panhandle July. They are grown for shelling green, for dry peas, or turned in as a summer cover. Being a legume they fix their own nitrogen, so they are often placed after a heavy-feeding crop rather than before one.
From the guide: UF/IFAS gives the North Florida planting dates for this crop as mid-March to August. It gives 75–90 days from seed to harvest, 2–6 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart, sown 1–1½ in. deep. On the crop itself it says: Highly nutritious. Fertilize at ½ the rate used for other vegetables; too much nitrogen limits production. Good summer cover crop. Cowpea curculio is a common pest. Maintain consistent soil moisture.
Where these dates come from: the North Florida column of the UF/IFAS Extension Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (SP 103/VH021), which defines North Florida as everything above State Road 40. Walton County is well inside it, and the Central and South Florida columns of the same table give different months. The guide is written for home and market gardens, so its spacing and days-to-harvest figures are a starting point for a field planting rather than a commercial schedule, and days to harvest varies by variety.
Common problems
- Cowpea curculio
- Aphids
- Root-knot nematode
- Stink bugs
- Cercospora leaf spot