[Snoop]

i also used fresh rabbit manure last year to help hold the moisture and that made an incredible difference.

Did you use that on your peas too? It would seem counter-intuitive, as peas don't need much additional nitrogen if any, as far as I understand. It might help with moisture in general, but if you use it with peas or beans, you could end up with a lot of leaf and not many pods.

[3759allen]

it's my first year of doing peas this year but i used it on my beans last year and i had a massive crop with no real difference in greenery.

to be honest you only need a thin layer to keep the moisture in and weeds down.