Harvesting Pea Shoots grown in Paperpot Trays

Pea Shoots in Trays: A Fresh Approach to a Farm Favourite

As late winter shifts into early spring, we’re harvesting one of our favourite crops—pea shoots. In the past, we’ve always grown them out in the field.

You can find earlier videos and even a podcast on that with Farm Small Farm Smart: The Profitable Mini Farm. But this season we’ve switched to growing them in trays.

Harvested by hand, these tendril-type peas give us around 400gm per tray from a 250gm sowing. Growing in trays offers more flexibility than the field—no waiting for the weather to dry, and the shoots are beautifully clean, needing little more than a quick grade at harvest. Days to maturity are also faster: 16–18 days compared to up to 23 in winter.

Pea shoots are a key ingredient in our award-winning Leaves & Shoots salad mix, loved by chefs as both salad and garnish. With their delicate tendrils, sweet flavour, and reliable yields, they remain one of our most rewarding crops to grow and harvest.