Peas finish just as the garden gets busy. Once daytime highs settle above about 80°F, pea vines yellow, stop flowering and leave a bed that is too good to sit empty for the rest of the season.

The choice of what goes in next comes down to two questions: how many days remain before your first fall frost, and which crops won’t share the peas’ pests and diseases. Get those two right and the same small bed gives you a second harvest, sometimes a better one than the peas.

This is about one decision: what replaces the peas in that bed. Sowing in waves all season, or planning a full fall container garden, is a bigger job for another day.

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Clear the pea bed the right way

Cut at the soil line and leave the roots

Cut pea vines at the soil surface with pruners rather than pulling them. The roots, with their small nitrogen-fixing nodules, stay in the soil and break down within a few weeks, and the soil structure stays intact for the next crop.

Compost the vines if they are healthy. If they had powdery mildew or wilt, put them in the trash instead. Take down and store the trellis unless you plan to reuse it for cucumbers.

Top up and water before sowing

Peas don’t leave a big nitrogen bonus: most of what they fix goes into the pods you ate. Spread 1 to 2 inches of finished compost over the bed and rake it into the top 2 to 3 inches. Heavy feeders like broccoli and cabbage also benefit from a balanced organic fertilizer at label rates.

Water the bed deeply the day before you sow or transplant. Seeds sown into dry, hot soil after peas often fail, while seeds in moist soil come up in days.

Count the days you have left

Find your average first fall frost date, then count the days from today to that date. Compare that number with each crop’s days to maturity, and add about 14 days, because growth slows as days shorten and cool in fall.

• 90 or more days: almost anything on the list, including broccoli and cabbage transplants, cucumbers and summer squash.
• 60 to 90 days: kale, collards, beets, carrots, bush beans in warm areas, chard.
• 30 to 60 days: lettuce, spinach, radishes, baby kale and other quick greens.
• Under 30 days: radishes and baby greens only, ideally with row cover ready for frost.

Hardy crops like kale, collards and carrots keep producing past the first light frost, so they can be sown a little later than tender ones like squash and beans, which stop at 32°F.

Best crops to plant after peas

Brassicas: kale, broccoli, cabbage, collards

In most regions I’d go with brassicas. They’re a different family from peas and like a freshly composted bed. They also get sweeter once fall frosts hit.

Buy transplants if you can. They save 4 to 6 weeks and cope with summer heat far better than seed. Space broccoli and cabbage 18 inches apart, kale and collards 12 to 18 inches. Broccoli usually needs 55 to 70 days from transplanting; kale gives baby leaves in about 30 days and full leaves in 50 to 65. Cover the bed with insect mesh right away, since cabbage worms are at their peak in late summer.

Fast roots: beets, carrots, radishes

Peas leave the soil loose and crumbly, which roots love. Beets mature in about 50 to 60 days and beets make a fast, reliable root crop after peas in most zones. Sow them 1/2 inch deep and thin to 3 to 4 inches apart.

Carrots take 60 to 80 days and germinate slowly in hot weather; sow 1/4 inch deep and lay a board or damp burlap over the row for the first 5 to 7 days. Radishes take 25 to 30 days, so they fill any gap while the bigger crops grow.

Summer squash and cucumbers in warm regions

Where peas finish in late spring and 70 or more warm days remain, summer squash and cucumbers are a good fit. Extension succession plans commonly follow spring peas with squash, beans or cucumbers once frost danger has passed.

Zucchini needs about 45 to 55 days to first harvest and a full 3 by 3 feet per plant, so summer squash for a warm-region follow-on crop suits a bed at least 4 feet wide. Cucumbers can climb the old pea trellis, at about 12 inches apart, and take 50 to 65 days.

Fall greens: lettuce, spinach, chard

Once nights start to cool, lettuce and spinach make sense. Lettuce seed often won’t germinate in soil above about 80°F, so sow lettuce in late summer for fall in the evening, water lightly every day and shade the row until seedlings show.

Spinach is even fussier about heat; wait until soil cools below about 70°F, often 6 to 8 weeks before first frost. Chard is the easy option: it germinates in warm soil, handles heat and light frost, and gives leaves in about 50 to 60 days.

Bush beans and when to skip them

Bush beans grow fast (50 to 60 days) and like warm soil, so they are tempting after peas. They are a legume like peas, though, and share some root rots and soil pests. Planting them once after a healthy pea crop is fine in a small garden; if the peas had root rot or wilt, choose brassicas or roots instead.

Match the follow-on crop to your region

The best choice shifts with when your peas finish.

• Warm regions (roughly zones 8 to 10): peas finish in spring. Follow with squash, cucumbers or southern-friendly beans, then sow fall brassicas and greens in late summer.
• Middle regions (zones 6 and 7): peas finish in early summer. Follow with beans, beets, carrots or brassica transplants, which will carry into fall.
• Cool regions (zones 3 to 5): peas finish in midsummer with 60 to 80 days to frost. Go straight to kale, broccoli transplants, beets, carrots and lettuce.

Your local frost date matters more than the zone number, so use both together when you choose.

Getting summer sowings to sprout in heat

Summer sowing after peas fails mostly at germination. Keep the top inch of soil moist until seedlings emerge, which can mean watering once or twice a day when highs are above 85°F. A soaker hose under the row cover helps.

Shade cloth rated 30 to 40% shade, held 12 to 18 inches above the row on hoops, can cool the soil surface and keep lettuce and spinach from stalling. Remove it once seedlings have 2 to 3 true leaves, unless the weather stays above 90°F.

Sow a little deeper than in spring, about 1.5 times the usual depth, so seeds sit in cooler, moister soil. Mulch transplants with 2 inches of straw or shredded leaves right after planting.

What not to plant after peas

• More peas: shelling and snap peas sown in midsummer heat rarely set pods. Wait for a fall pea sowing 8 to 10 weeks before frost in mild areas.
• Fava beans or other legumes in a pea bed that had disease.
• Spinach or lettuce while soil is still above about 75 to 80°F; they will sit and sulk or bolt.
• Long-season crops like winter squash, melons or tomatoes from seed, which need 90 to 120 days and usually run out of season.

FAQ

What grows well after peas?

Kale, broccoli, cabbage and collards are the best follow-on in most gardens, followed by beets, carrots, chard and lettuce. In warm regions with 70 or more frost-free days left, summer squash and cucumbers also do well. Choose by the days you have before first frost.

Do peas leave nitrogen in the soil?

A little, mostly in the roots and leftover vines. Most nitrogen the plant fixes goes into the pods, so add 1 to 2 inches of compost before replanting. Leaving roots in the soil still helps the next crop slightly.

Should I pull pea plants or cut them at the soil?

Cut them at the soil line. The roots break down in place within a few weeks, adding organic matter without disturbing the soil. Pull them only if the plants had a root disease.

Can I plant beans after peas?

Yes, once, if the peas were healthy. Beans and peas are both legumes and share some root diseases, so a different family like brassicas is the better rotation. Bush beans need 50 to 60 days and warm soil.

How many days do I need for a crop after peas?

Add about 14 days to the crop’s days to maturity and compare that with the days left before your first fall frost. Radishes need about 40 days in total, lettuce 50 to 60, beets 65 to 75 and broccoli transplants 70 to 85. Hardy crops like kale tolerate light frost and can run a little longer.

Final thoughts

A bed that just grew peas is already in good shape. Add compost, water it well and pick something from a different family that will finish before frost. That’s really all there is to it.

University of Maryland Extension shows how spring peas fit into a planned vegetable succession through the season. Today, count the days to your first frost and write the one crop that fits on a label for the pea bed.

Last update on 2026-10-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API