One good outcome of our unsettled weather has been an extended English pea season. They just keep on coming. In early spring, however, we struggled to get them to sprout.

While our neighbor avows that peas can tough out a light coat of snow, even if they've poked their heads up, they're also stubborn and fussy. During germination, they don't like change. Cool and damp is excellent, but add drenching wet and the seeds might rot.

We replanted peas once -- or was it twice? They finally took. We've enjoyed a healthy, vigorous crop with loads of flowers and lovely, sweet peas.

Because peas need something to lean on (even if the seed catalogue says they don't), we stuck bamboo poles into the ground at various spots between the long double row. Peas don't vine like cucumbers or pole beans but they do send out clingy tendrils. A green wire fence at their back protected them from hungry creatures.

While I complained a few weeks ago that they were not producing, the pods quickly fattened. They may only make peas for another few days, because once again, the weather has changed, to hot!

So this is my farewell homage to a favorite vegetable.

In the garden, peas are for snacking, as most gardeners can attest. Many never make it to the kitchen. Pods are slit open with dirty fingers and the crisp, sweet peas inside greedily eaten. As with potato chips, one is never enough.

"I envy you your peas," said my friend Martha Foose, who lives in the Mississippi Delta, where it's too hot to grow English (aka green) peas. "I am jealous of your peas."

If you grow peas or can get them, make my feisty Pea and Potato Salad With Anchoves and Garlic to serve with grilled chicken or lamb sausages. Or make Alice Waters's simple and amazing Spring Pea Soup (recipes below). If it's cold outside, enjoy it hot.

On a hot day, make it with olive oil instead of butter, chill it and top with Greek yogurt and snipped chives or chervil.

If you're feeling festive, serve the soup the way I once had it at a winery luncheon in Sonoma, Calif.: well-seasoned and very cold, pea-green in a beautiful bowl with a scoop of sweet, fresh crabmeat and a sprinkle of tarragon.

And if you can't get fresh peas, you can get them frozen. Which is better than no peas at all.

Pea and Potato Salad with Anchovies and Garlic

PG tested

Use plump, firm anchovies packed in olive oil in little jars, not those from cans. Canned ones often taste fishy. You'll find jarred ones at Pennsylvania Macaroni in the Strip District. Garden-fresh potatoes take longer to cook than store potatoes. -- Miriam Rubin

• 1 pound small potatoes, scrubbed and halved, (quarter larger potatoes)
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh peas or frozen petite peas
• 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 to 6 anchovy fillets, packed in olive oil
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
• Freshly ground black pepper

Put potatoes in large saucepan; add cold water to cover and a big pinch of salt. Cover and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, partially covered, 10 to 15 minutes, until fork-tender. Stir in peas, cover and cook 1 minute, just until tender. Drain in colander.

Meanwhile, chop garlic on cutting board. Sprinkle with pinch of salt. With flat side of chef's knife, rub garlic against board to make a coarse paste. Put anchovies on top of garlic and chop both together. Scrape into salad bowl. With fork, stir in oil, vinegar and parsley.

Add potatoes and peas; toss gently to mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper and additional vinegar, if desired. Serve warm or chilled.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

-- Miriam Rubin

Spring Pea Soup

PG tested

If serving this cold, make it with olive oil instead of butter. -- Miriam Rubin

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
• Kosher salt
• 5 cups water
• 3 cups shelled fresh peas or frozen petite peas

Melt butter in large heavy pot over medium heat. Stir in onion and pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often until tender, about 7 minutes. Add water; cover and bring to boil.

Add peas and simmer, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes until tender.

Puree soup in very small batches in blender, pulsing it at first to avoid splashing. Taste; adjust seasoning and serve, reheating gently on stove top, if necessary. If serving cold, cover and refrigerate.

Makes about 7 cups, 4 to 6 servings.

-- Adapted from "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, 2007)