Austrian Winter Peas Cover Crop Seeds

Cover & Green Manure Crop

Planting Guide

These peas have a vine-like growth that can reach lengths of 3 to 5 feet when planted in fertile soil. Winter peas are highly nutritious and extremely digestible to deer. Foliage color is a pale green. Austrian winter peas have moderate drought tolerance but have good winter hardiness. Sow your Austrian Winter Peas in late summer through early fall. Spread seeds on a well-prepared bed and hoe in to a depth of 2 inches. If you'd like to sow your peas in rows, sow in 2 - 3 inch deep furrows that are spaced 8 inches apart. Cover well. Austrian winter peas prefer cool temperatures and plenty of water. Keep watered in dry spells. If grown as a spring cover crop, mow down at flowering.

• Bloom season: spring
• Bloom color: pinks or white
• Can be planted in patio containers

Plant Specifications

Austrian winter pea is a perennial flowering cover crop that is winter hardy in USDA zones 6 and above. It is a vining plant that can reach lengths of up to 4 feet.

• Don't confuse these with cowpeas
• Useful in salads & stir fries
• Attracts various wildlife

Austrian winter peas are a cool-season annual legume which can make a very attractive food plot on their own or as an addition to a seed mixture planted in the fall to attract deer. Easy to grow and quick to germinate, winter peas are very similar to garden peas and have the same nitrogen-fixing abilities which reduces the amount of fertilizer needed in your garden.

Austrian Winter Peas are also very good for cover crops and green manure crops, building tilth and adding organic matter and thus humus to the soil. Peas like well drained and fertile loam soils. Field peas are used as a winter annual in the South and as a spring annual in the North for soil improvement and for forage. Austrian winter peas are generally grown with a small grain for pasture, hay or silage. They can be used as a cover crop or green manure crop. This cover crop seed does not tolerate high water table or any substantial flooding.

These peas have a vine-like growth that can reach lengths of 3 to 5 feet when planted in fertile soil. Winter peas are highly nutritious and extremely digestible to deer. They carry a protein level between 20 and 30 percent. Both the seed, stem and leaves are browsed by deer. Foliage color is a pale green, and the plant produces pink blooms. Austrian winter peas have moderate drought tolerance but have good winter hardiness.