Choose your type(s). There are three: English or garden peas (only the seeds are eaten), Chinese or snow peas (picked when the pods have reached full size but the seeds are still small and eaten pod and all), and snap peas (picked when both pod and seeds are mature; both are edible).
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Sow peas directly in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked, usually about five weeks before the last expected frost. Because the seeds germinate so readily, and because you'll want to make successive plantings, there's no real advantage to buying started plants.
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Plant the seeds an inch deep, 3 to 4 inches apart, in rows about 3 feet apart. Install supports for peas - even dwarf varieties - when you plant them, and start guiding the vines upward as soon as they're long enough to climb.
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Plant a different, heat-resistant variety a few weeks after the first sowing. Then 8 to 10 weeks before the first frost date, plant a crop in another bed for an early autumn harvest.
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Make sure young plants get about 1/2 inch of water a week (1 inch in very sandy soil). When plants begin to flower, they need an inch per week regardless of soil.
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Help ensure heavy yields by feeding liquid seaweed or compost tea twice during the growing season.
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Expect peas to be ready for picking about three weeks after the plants begin to flower.
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