Problems in the Pea Patch

This is the first year I've had problems growing peas.

The seeds I planted (a week before Saint Patrick's day), haven't sprouted.

Suspecting that it was early, I also planted a bunch of peas in the greenhouse as starts. They did wonderfully, and I transplanted the out around 2/20 as 4" and 5" starts.

Immediately, they were eaten.

Suspecting slugs, I put out coffee grounds and slug bait, and put out a few more transplants. Nothing changed. The new transplants were eaten just as quickly.

So I sprayed the area with bug spray and put out some more. These were eaten the first night.

I've since tried two new strategies, and since I'm trying them both at the same time, it's hard to say if the success comes from one or the other.

An online friend suggested putting out diatomaceous earth to make life hard for earwigs and other bugs. I couldn't believe I hadn't considered that; I even had some! So I did that.

But I also had a few milk jugs. I cut off the bottoms, and put them around the fresh transplants.

I don't know if the diatomaceous earth helped (it didn't hurt!), but the milk jugs appear to have done a good thing.

Now to figure out when to remove the jugs. I'm guessing "before they grow out the top."

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Update 4/1/14: Got some sugar peas in the seed of the month club. Planted 'em same day.