How to Grow Peas (Matar) in Pots: A Sweet Winter Crop
Can a balcony grow matar sweet enough to eat raw off the vine? Yes, and it’s one of the kindest winter crops for a first timer. How to grow peas in pots: soak the seed overnight, sow it 2 inches deep in October or early November, push the support sticks in the same day, and pick every few days once pods fill. Peas (Matar) ask for cool weather and steady water at flowering, little else.
In brief
- Pot size: 10 to 15 litres, 10 to 12 inches deep, as wide as you can manage
- Plants per pot: 5 to 6 in a 12 inch pot, 3 inches apart
- Sun: 5 to 6 hours of winter sun
- Sowing in the plains: October to mid November
- Days to first harvest: 60 to 75 for early varieties, up to 100 for tall late ones
- Support: sticks or string, 2 to 3 feet for dwarf types, 5 feet for tall ones
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What is the best month to sow peas?
October, for most of Pakistan’s and North India’s plains. Peas sprout and grow best in mild weather, flower in the cool of December and January, and give up when the heat returns in March.
In Lahore and Delhi, sow from early October to mid November. Sown in September the seedlings cook; sown in December they flower just as the warmth and the mildew arrive. Karachi and the coast should wait until November, since October is still hot there, and choose an early dwarf variety because the cool spell is short. The hills run on a different clock: sow in March to April, or in autumn where winters are mild. See the winter balcony sowing list for good neighbours, and the sowing calendar for the rest of the year.
Which pot and mix do peas like?
Pea roots are shallow and fine, so width earns more than depth. A wide tub, a rectangular planter or a 12 inch pot of 10 to 15 litres all work, as long as water drains freely. Soggy mix rots pea seed before it sprouts.
Use 2 parts garden soil, 1 part compost and 1 part cocopeat or coarse sand, and go easy on manure. Peas need very little nitrogen feed. Too much grows a lush green curtain with hardly a pod on it. The potting mix guide gives ratios for other crops.
How to grow peas in pots, step by step
- Soak overnight. Cover the seeds with plain water for 8 to 12 hours, no longer, or they split and rot. They’ll swell to nearly double.
- Set the supports first. Push 4 or 5 thin bamboo sticks or dry twiggy branches around the inside edge of the pot, tied together at the top like a tent.
- Sow 2 inches deep. Place seeds 3 inches apart in a ring just inside the sticks, cover, and firm lightly.
- Water once, then wait. Water well, then keep the mix just damp. Shoots show in 6 to 10 days.
- Guard the seedlings. Sparrows and mynas love pea shoots. A piece of old net or a few upturned fruit baskets for the first two weeks saves the crop.
- Guide the tendrils. When plants are 4 to 5 inches tall, nudge the stems toward the sticks. After that they climb on their own.
The step most beginners do too late: stake on sowing day
Pea roots spread wide and sit only a few inches under the surface. Push a stick into the pot three weeks later and you spear straight through them, and the plant sulks for a fortnight or dies back. Put every support in before the seed goes down. As a bonus, the sticks show you exactly where you sowed, so you don’t water an empty corner.
Pea plant care: water, feeding and cold
Go light on water until the first flowers open, wetting the pot only when the top inch is dry, which in a foggy Punjab December can be every 4 to 5 days. Once it flowers, the rules change. Flowering and pod filling are the thirsty weeks, and a pot that dries out then drops its blossoms and gives flat, half empty pods. Water at the base, in the morning, and keep the leaves dry. Our guide to watering potted plants explains the winter rhythm.
Feeding is easy: a handful of compost and a spoon of wood ash at first flower is enough. Plants shrug off cold nights, though open flowers can be nipped by a hard frost, so pull pots under a ledge on the coldest nights of January.
Did you know? The garden pea is the plant Gregor Mendel used in the 1850s and 1860s to work out how traits pass from parent to offspring.
Why are my pea plant leaves turning white?
That’s powdery mildew, the commonest trouble with peas, and it looks as if someone dusted the leaves with talcum powder. It usually shows from February as days warm up, on crowded plants with dry roots.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| White powder on leaves | Powdery mildew: warm days, crowding, dry roots | Remove worst leaves, water the soil regularly, give air |
| Seeds never came up | Rotted in soggy mix, or eaten | Resow, water less, cover from birds |
| Flowers but flat pods | Pot dried out at flowering, or heat | Steady water, sow earlier next year |
| Yellow from the base up in March | End of season heat | Normal, take the last pods |
| Wavy pale tunnels in leaves | Leaf miner | Pinch off affected leaves, bin them |
Late mildew on a plant that has already given its pods isn’t worth fighting. Early mildew is mostly prevented by spacing, steady watering at the root and morning sun that dries the dew.
Myth: peas feed the soil, so the pot needs nothing after
Half true, and usually oversold. Peas are legumes, and bacteria living in little bumps (nodules) on their roots take nitrogen from the air and turn it into a form the plant can use. Most of that nitrogen ends up in the pods you eat. What stays behind in the roots is a modest gift, not a bag of fertilizer. So when the plants finish, cut them at soil level and leave the roots in the pot to rot, then still add compost before the summer crop goes in.
Picking pods, and eating the shoots
Pods are ready about three weeks after a flower fades, when they look plump and bright green and you can feel round peas inside. Hold the vine with one hand and pinch the pod off with the other, because a tug can pull the whole shallow rooted plant out. Pick every 2 to 3 days. Pods left to turn pale and leathery tell the plant to stop flowering, and the sugar in a picked pea starts turning to starch within hours, which is why yours taste sweeter than the mandi’s.
The tender top 3 to 4 inches of the vine, tendrils and all, are edible and taste like peas. Toss them into a salad or stir them through a sabzi at the last minute. Take only a few tips from plants you want pods from, or sow a separate tray thickly just for shoots and cut it at 4 to 6 inches tall. The emptied pods go to the compost. More ideas like this are in Zero-Waste Kitchen.
How much to expect? A 12 inch pot gives a few handfuls of pods across four to six weeks. Lovely for snacking and a pulao garnish; not enough for a winter of matar paneer.
Edible garden peas are not the same as ornamental sweet peas, whose seeds are poisonous; if you grow both for the flowers, label the pots and teach children the difference. Whole raw peas are a choking risk for children under 5, so crush or halve them. Check that bamboo sticks have no sharp tips at a child’s eye level; an upturned small bottle on each tip works. Empty saucers after watering to keep dengue mosquitoes from breeding, and keep tall, wind catching pots away from railings.
Matar growing questions, answered
How to grow matar at home?
Soak pea seeds overnight and sow them 2 inches deep and 3 inches apart in a wide 10 to 15 litre pot during October or early November. Add support sticks at sowing, give 5 to 6 hours of sun, and water steadily once flowers appear.
How long do peas take to grow?
Early dwarf varieties give their first pods in about 60 to 75 days. Tall, late varieties can take up to 100 days but crop for longer.
Do peas need support?
Yes, even dwarf ones do better with it. Short varieties need twiggy sticks 2 to 3 feet tall; tall varieties need strings or netting to about 5 feet. Unsupported vines flop, stay damp and catch mildew.
Why are my pea plant leaves turning white?
It’s powdery mildew, a fungus that coats leaves in white powder. Space the plants, water the soil instead of the leaves, keep the pot from drying out, and remove the worst leaves.
What is the best month to sow peas in Pakistan and India?
October in the plains, with sowing possible until mid November. Coastal cities sow in November, and hill areas mainly in March and April.
Can I grow peas from dried matar in the kitchen?
Sometimes. Whole dried green or white peas often sprout if they’re fresh and unsplit, but the variety is unknown and usually a field type. They’re fine for growing shoots; buy garden pea seed for sweet pods.
How many pea plants fit in one pot?
Five or six in a 12 inch pot, spaced 3 inches apart. A 24 inch rectangular planter holds 12 to 14 in two rows.
Why is my pea plant flowering but not making pods?
Dry roots or sudden warmth are the usual causes. Keep the mix evenly moist through flowering, and sow on time so flowers open in the cool weeks.