Pea Lincoln

67 days. Treat your family to a delectable fresh garden pea this season with Lincoln, a very high-yielding variety that offers pairs of 4½- to 5-inch pods all up and down its compact stems. Easy to shell and boasting 6 to 9 well-stuffed peas in every pod, it's a family favorite that is perfect for freezing but also delicious when eaten fresh or canned.

Lincoln is among the most heat tolerant of garden peas and shows excellent resistance to wilt as well. This makes it a great choice for new gardeners and those in warm, humid climates where some peas suffer as soon as the short spring passes.

With a bush habit, Lincoln reaches about 25 to 30 inches high, and when strung as a vine is just 5 inches wide, but can be grown in bushier form as well with little to no support.

Chances are that if you grew up in the baby boom days, you ate Lincoln peas as a child. It was introduced after World War II and became instantly successful in the commercial market, where its yields had never been seen before. It remained in commercial production well into the 1960's, and is now valued among home gardeners for its history as well as its huge crops and delicious flavor.

Easy to grow, peas love cold weather, so plant as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring. Direct-sow 1 to 2 inches apart and 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep. Peas are also ideal as a fall crop started in late summer. To conserve space and simplify harvesting, sow in double rows with a trellis between rows. Pkt is 2 ounces (160 seeds)