The rule of thumb is that the May long weekend is the time to plant your veggies and flowers in Vancouver. And that's true for heat-loving plants like tomatoes, peppers or basil. But plenty of plants prefer cooler temperatures.
Take peas, for instance: for the best possible pea crop, you should plant your first seeds mid-February to early March! You can start harvesting peas in May (give or take, depending on the variety). Try successive plantings every few weeks, to keep a steady supply - though peas generally don't do well once it gets summer-warm. We usually stop sowing peas in mid-May, through to early July, when we start planting successively in to August, for a fall harvest.
On the West coast, peas, like tomatoes, are subject to a fungal infection, so it's a good idea to rotate the crop each year to another part of the garden - on a four-year cycle. Since peas are legumes, though, you'll be glad you spread them around: with the help of a particular soil bacteria (which you can also buy and deliberately inoculate your pea seeds with), legumes capture nitrogen in the soil, providing nutrition for the next plant that's lucky to grow there!
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