Pleasing Power Of Pea Petals And Pods

If I had to guess, I would put my money on peas as the second most loved vegetable to grow just after tomatoes. There’s something about them that brings out the hyperbole! Ask a gardener which variety of pea she likes and you’ll get “I grow nothing but X.. it produces like crazy and it’s as sweet as candy!”

I’ve got three varieties of peas going.

1. Cascadia. A sugar snap pea that is absolutely fantastic. Thick pods, juicy, sweet. The best I’ve grown. Insert personal hyperbole here.
2. Carouby de Maussane. A gorgeous plant that produces long, thin snow peas.
3. Golden Sweet. A yellow snow pea with a long vine.

There are basically three kinds of peas. Snow peas are the flat pods with small dots of peas growing within. The pods are edible. Snap peas have fatter pods and fatter peas within and the pods are edible. Green peas have fatter, bigger pods and the pods usually aren’t edible – you shell them to pull out the peas.

The beauty of peas is the variety. While I don’t have any of the traditional “garden” (green) peas going nor do I have any that will extend deep into the season (there are usually three pea season varieties – early, second early maincrop, and maincrop). I go for that lovely early burst. Peas grow quickly and fade just as fast around here, but it’s one of those truly seasonal vegetables that I can’t imagine going without.

Carouby de Maussane

Carouby de Maussane

Cascadia

Golden Sweet

Pea trellis getting big

Carouby Flowers

Pretty Carouby

Filed under: Peas , carouby de maussane, cascadia pea, golden sweet snow pea, Peas

State Of The Stuff: What’s Growing

It’s May 18 and just about everything is in my garden.  I’m holding off on tomatoes and peppers for another week because it’s supposed to be pretty cold and wet for about 5 or 6 days.  I’ve got some tomoatoes just sitting out in the garden getting used to the place and I’ve still got several transplants under the growlights.  Can’t wait.

Beans checking out their pole

Beet sprouts

Broccoli (Gastrocast)

Started from seed 3/25

Green rows

Bean teepee

Potatoes looking pretty

Wasp is thirsty

Pole Beans: They’ve been in the dirt for 3 weeks and are just poking their little muppet heads out now.  I’ve got a few varieties.  Should be spectacular.

Bush Beans: Same story as above.  Just a few poking up now.  I’m a little worried, but we’ll see what the week brings.  If they don’t pop, I’ll just replant.  Plenty of time for beans.

Beets: 3 good rows have been in since May 4 and they are popping very nicely.  These are the ones I’m using for the Growing Challenge.  So far, so good.

Greens: Mesclun transplants have been made into many a meal already.  Delicious.  The staggered plantings I’ve done have all sprouted at various stages.  I’ve got about 3 successions.  Tom Thumb lettuce, chard, oak leaf, mesclun, tyee spinach, space saver spinach, arugula, miners lettuce are all doing well.

Peas: Carouby de Mausanne and Cascadia.  The peas in the earthbox are about 8 inches now.  They’ve been going since the end of March.  The peas in the garden are about 4 inches and were planted mid April. 

Carrots: Not a whole lot happening here.  They’ve been in since 5/4.   Just a couple of little peekers.

Radishes: Black radishes are doing great.  They’ve been in since 5/4.  Radish mix that I have going in a container on the deck (planted chaotically.. we’ll see) are doing well too.

Broccoli: Just a few plants.  Two are transplants and they are absolutely thriving so far.  Foot tall already.  The third is a transplant from the seeds I got as part of the Gastrocast’s seed special.  It was a bit sickly early on, but recovered very well.  I popped it into the garden yesterday.

Cucumbers: Just put in a Bush Crop.  Six plants.  I had so many cukes last year that I cut down a bit.

Potatoes: Bigger patch than last year and they have all sprouted.  The potatoes are approaching the 4 inch mark and I’ll need to get some straw going soon.

 

Filed under: Peas, beets, growing challenge, potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , beans, chard, lettuce, mesclun, Peas, pole beans, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, vegetable garden

Cancel The Ark: Maybe Just A Dinghy

So the rain came down and down and down.  Everything drank it up – including my beds and my pathways.  It really seemed like extra rainy rain.

Garden seemed to enjoy it.  Some soil got washed off of my beds.  The trouble is that my beds are raised a few inches, but I don’t have them framed.  Once  the beds tighten up with more moisture and plant roots it should be fine.  Next year, if this layout works for me, I’ll frame the beds.  Probably.  If I’m not too fat and lazy.

Quick stroll out in the garden just now and the peas are coming up nicely.  Some chard just in front of them.  And a cat.  Sniffing around the peas to probably pee.  Shooed her away. 

Lettuce transplants look great and I tasted a leaf from one of them.  Very nice.

There is a frost warning for tonight.  Uh oh!  Looks like somebody jumped the gun!  We’ll see.  I think we’ll be okay.

So, cancel the ark.  Send a dinghy because it’s pretty much supposed to rain after tomorrow and never stop.

Filed under: Peas, soil, vegetable garden, vegetables , beans, frost warning, lettuce, Peas, rain, soil

Sunday In April: Sowing The Seeds Of Love

I’ve slowly been working in seeds and transplants. I don’t want to get too sucked into this unusually warm Connecticut weather, but it just feels like stuff needs to get planted!

This weekend was a bit more seasonal. In the 60s, overcast. I just got back from a Minnesota business trip.. where it rained like it was going out of style. I missed the bright, warm sun of this weird Connecticut spring! But here I am back to reality.

Today I got arugula seeds started, miner lettuce seeds going, black radish, radish mix, carrots, pole and bush beans all started from seed in the garden. In the meantime, the mesclun mix from the Gastrocast seed special have sprouted. Kale has sprouted. The peas in the garden have sprouted and the peas in the earthbox are getting heartier.

Honestly, I’m most excited about the pole and bush beans I planted. The pole beans are a mix of kentucky wonder pole and borlotto beans from the Gastrocast seed special. Last year the three bush (provider) beans I planted were CRAZY productive. That’s what I’m looking for. I think the pole beans will be gorgeous running up the simple wooden teepee I built.

Soon I will need to thin the kale and mesclun. The mesclun transplants I put in are doing very, very well. I ate a few leaves today. Delicious!

Wide shot with guard dog

Peas sprouting in the garden!

Chard transplants near peas

Broccoli and lettuce transplants

Delicious lettuce mix transplants

Kale and Mesclun sprouts.. thin soon!

Peas in the earthbox

Closer peas in the earthbox

Filed under: Peas, seed starts, vegetable garden, vegetables , arugula, beans, gastrocast seed special, Peas, radish

Potatoes, chard, lettuce etc.

Lots of stuff in the garden now either as seed or as transplants. We’ve had a crazy nice stretch of weather here in Connecticut which has probably lulled me into a sense of frost forgetfulness. We shall see…

1. More peas. Planted a bunch of peas on the 14th. I made a quick trellis using twine and bamboo poles. Two basic varieties – carouby de maussanne and cascadia. I love peas and I’ve got more going in an earthbox on my deck.

2. Lettuce mix. A handful of transplants and also seeds in on the 14th of a mesclun mix from the Gastrocast special seed offer from Seeds From Italy.

3. Kale from seed also from the Seeds From Italy thing. Just a couple of feet of kale plantings.

4. Spinach. Space Saver and tyee also planted on the 14th. I’d say about two long rows of that. Love spinach.

5. Onions. Transplants. Just a small bunch since I tend not to like the one-and-done kind of veggies; I prefer stuff that keeps producing. (Carrots and radishes are the big exception to this rule for me. Love those.) Planted on the 14th.

6. Leeks. Same as above.

7. Chard. From seed on the 14th in a nice long row and from transplants today (4/20).

8. Onion sets. I’ve never done this before and wanted to give it a try. I’ll keep them in to have a handful of onions to store.

9. Potatoes. I put in some nice blue potatoes and some regular old potatoes too. Did that today.

10. Broccoli. Just two transplants on the 14th. I’ve got some others started and we’ll see if they will make it.

I still need to work on improving the soil – especially before tomatoes go in. I’ll do some beans, beets, carrots and more greens through this week.

Here’s the latest view from above:

Filed under: Peas, potato, vegetable garden, vegetables , new plantings, vegetable garden

Peas Please Me

Since the first pea seeds failed because of my silly rush to get them in the dirt, I replanted and it looks like it worked out this time.  The first sprout is pushing through the soil (and raising the seed up nearly to the soil surface) and is looking good.  Since the replanting gave me the chance to use some inoculant, I’m hoping for a crazy bounty. 

These peas were planted in my earthbox container.  The variety that is sprouting now is called carouby de maussane The garden (freshly tilled) needs some work before I can start planting in there, but my plans call for some peas in there too.

Filed under: Peas , Peas

Peas: They Never Had A Chance

Connecticut’s finicky weather… it’s hot, it’s cold.  It’s snowing, there’s a volcano.  It’s really all over the place.  Last year I got started too late with my plantings and while I enjoyed a reasonable bounty, it just wasn’t spread out enough.

I was determined to start things earlier this year and got many of my seed starts (celeriac, some greens, some tomatoes, broccoli, basil) going between 3/3 and 3/25.  And I really wanted to get peas going.  It’s a gardening tradition to plant those peas before most anything.  St. Patrick’s day is a good target it seems, but I got a bit too eager.

I’ve got an Earthbox container on my deck that seemed like a great place to start my peas.  It’s moveable and I can push it into the sun to keep things warm.  I planted two varieties on 3/12 and since then we’ve had some warm weather, but some very cold nights and days.  I dug into the dirt last night and could see that only one of the seeds had started a rootlet… and the germination was probably going to stop there.  There was also some rotting.

Lesson learned.  I’m going to replant in the next couple of days and this time I’ll treat the seeds with some inoculant – the rhizobial bacteria that help nitrogen fixers do their thing better.  (Don’t make the noob mistake I did and try and look up pea inoculate… that doesn’t work out.)

Things are warming up around here and we’ll get to that 60 degree sweet spot for the pea soil soon.

Filed under: Peas, seed starts, vegetable garden, vegetables , inoculant, Peas, seed starts, vegetable garden