fresh snap peas

I picked a giant bowl full of snap peas this week. I was thinking I'd make snap pea pickles, which sound great to me. But I haven't done that yet and we're eating them pretty fast raw with dips and briefly cooked as a side dish. And ... kind of silly, but we did put a few in a martini. Grey Goose vodka and very fresh snap peas....

budded fall peas

I've tried for the past 10 years to get a fall crop of peas and haven't been successful. Our weather goes from hot to frost too fast. But I've got my fingers crossed this year. Maybe.... My pea plants are budded and our weather is pretty nice, with nights not going much below 50 F yet. Our season generally seems about 2 weeks late this year. So maybe 2 or 3 weeks until frost. Maybe enough time for these peas.

I started spouting these peas (Burpeeana Early, 63 days to harvest) on August 8 indoors in paper towels and then planted them outside a week later. The weather was so hot that I planted them next to my popcorn for afternoon shade. I also planted Johnny's Sugar Snap peas at the same time but they have not done well probably since they had no shade.

sowing peas

I planted peas yesterday. The soil was nicely thawed and has been thawed for over a week now. I turned it a couple weeks ago, but it froze up soon after that. It thawed again soon after. It's drained well now and certainly workable.

I plant peas by digging a trench about an inch deep and 6 inches wide. I scattered in the peas. (I didn't have inoculant and will add some to the soil as soon as I find some. It's new soil and I want to be sure the nitrogen fixing bacterial are there.) I scatter the pea seeds fairly dense. They can hold each other up this way. I left space between the rows for another planting in a couple weeks.

Grow peas, grow!

peas are sprouting

I checked on my peas today. Just dug a bit in the soil and found a seed. It had a really long root and just starting to send out a stem. I'll have pea sprouts in no time I bet.

pea planting

Today I planted my peas! The first seeds to go into my new garden.

I brought three wheelbarrows full of loam down to one of my new raised beds. I added two 40 lb bags of composted cow manure, turned it, then raked the surface smooth. I planted two packages of 5 foot tall French snow pea seeds. For each, I cleared a 2 inch deep trench about 5-6 inches wide. Since I haven't planted peas in this soil before, I sprinkled on pea/bean innoculant, scattered the pea seeds, then covered the area. I added some 6 foot tall branches for supports. Our irrigation water isn't on yet, so the seeds will sprout when they get enough moisture.

We are in the process of applying to the Town Conservation Commission for a permit for this vegetable garden site since it's near wetlands: a pond and a seasonal brook. It doesn't seem that there is any problem getting the permit as the garden is all sustainable organic and we are planning work to avoid runoff and mitigate local wildlife habitat issues. But since we do not yet have "go ahead" approval, I am filling and planting one bed at a time. For this first planting, I used a minimum of soil - only 3-4 inches in an 8 inch raised bed. I think approval takes 3 weeks from submission, which will go in next week (hopefully). The submission will include all of the modifications that we plan for the house and yard. One of the modifications to the hose is the addition of a vegetable storage/root cellar that I look forward to filling up with home-grown vegetables.

pea harvest

 

Today's harvest was a pile of peas and a few Meyer lemons. The lemons will ripen up with a few days inside on the window sill. The peas will not last that long. They will disappear at dinner time. I'm  still deciding how to cook them, but likely straight up with a little salt and butter.

I have forgotten, again, what variety of pea I planted where. I planted 3 types of peas this year in my parents garden and 2 types in my garden. My parents have been picking theirs for a week or so now. This is my first pea harvest. These peas were planted on St Patrick's Day. Though I gave them a nice 5 foot trellis thinking they were tall vines, they ended up only about 1 foot tall, at most.



The pods are pretty, but small. A few pods are plump with 5 big peas inside, most have 4, and some have only 1, 2, 3 peas. I was wondering why so few pods are full. After reading a bit, it seems that its a pollination issue. Peas self pollinate, but rainy weather can interfere. My guess is that the each pea in the pod needs to be pollinated with its own pollen grain to mature and that this did not go so well for this crop. We have had some serious rain this spring. I remember going out and photographing the flowers in the rain. I will see if I can find a wet-pea-flower-photo.

My other pea variety, also of unknown name, is growing taller, maybe about three feet tall now. The pods are almost ripe - I think they need another week. They look like they will be fatter and fuller than this batch.

peas trellis up

We have gotten several days of well needed rain. My peas are happy and growing fast. I put some string trellis up for them.

peas are growing

my peas are up!

Such brave little sprouts "the sturdy seedling with arched body comes Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs".

I planted my peas on March 17 - St Patrick's Day. Today I looked out the window and thought I saw something in the soil. Sure enough, five rows of pea sprouts. I will plant a couple more rows at Easter for a later crop. Peas (leaves and stems but not the pods) are very hardy to the cold and I am sure they will be fine with whatever weather comes this year. They are in my side yard - I plant here because the chipmunks eat them at the community plot.

pea plants

Not my best year for peas. I'm trying to grow shell peas. I planted three different varieties (Cascadia, Oregon Giant and something else). (I even used pea innoculant on all.) Usually sugar snap (Johnny's Sugar Sprint) do very well in my garden. I've tried shell peas several times before and they have never done well. Not sure why. Maybe shell peas need more sun?

Next year I think I'll go back to Sugar Sprint and just let the pods get big and shell them. We really like fresh shell peas!!

picking peas

peas are almost ready!

I planted 4 varieties of peas this spring. Probably too close together, but so far they're OK. The nice thing is that they are blooming and forming peas in succession. I'm looking forward to different types of peas ripening at different times. I hadn't realized this benefit of planting multiple types.

pea flowers

I planted 4 varieties and the first to bloom is Cascadia. An enation-resistant Northwest bred snap pea variety. (What on earth is enation???)

frosted peas

My pea plants got nipped a bit by the frost last night. The edge leaves on the most exposed area look singed. The frost also got my little marigold seedlings that I had planted out. I don't think they will survive. I have more at home and will have to replace them. Everything else was fine: broccoli, onions, cabbage, radish, fava beans and carrots.

I think this will be our last frost. Its a late one this year.

pea sprouts

They're up!

pea trellis??

I checked on my peas yesterday and they're not up yet. I should put up a trellis soon. It works best to put it up when you plant the peas or very soon after sprouting. I haven't decided what to use yet. After using 10 or 12 different trellis solutions, I have yet to find one that I really like. I have 3 types planted so far: 2 ft, 2 1/2 ft, and 3 ft vines. Any suggestions?

pea planting day

Happy St Patrick's Day! Its a beautiful sunny day - perfect to plant the peas! And some fava beans. I have my seed packages out. And the inoculant.

I'll also spread some clover seed in the squash and corn beds to see if I can get any cover crop growth to turn under before planting these beds in late May.

fall planting

Here's what I planted yesterday. My garden has little patches of free soil here and there. A spot where fava beans were. One where blighted tomatoes were. The empty garlic patch.

I got rained on while planting, so the packs look ragged.

Its late for fall planting. My calendar says I should have planted a few weeks ago. Last year I did my last planting on August 27 and only some of the greens matured by the first frost. The peas and spinach didn't. (I've never gotten fall peas to produce.)

It so hot now to think fall is coming. My count down calendar says 52 days to first frost (around Oct 15). We'll see how these seeds do.

pea green

I picked a big handful of peas yesterday. A very small yeild for my big patch and big hopes. But, still a very pretty bowl of green.

(I think my main problem with the peas this year was slugs and lack of sun. I would have thought the cool wet weather would have been perfect. I planted more two weeks ago and these are growing great. Much better than my spring germination and growth rates. They are in a very shaded part of the garden so they may do best here in mid summer.)

The peas topped off a yummy paella my husband made in his new paella grill. Can't beat it!

pea blossoms

Just starting to bloom. I have very few large pea plants though since the squirrels ate so many seeds early in the season. I have kept planting though and just this week I finally have lots of tiny sprouts. I wonder if these will produce peas before the summer heat kills the vines?