With that I've decided to get a spot ready for some peas. Since moving here I've been growing bush peas- not my favorite, but it was necessary because of a high wind year. I've decided to give a small spot a try of the taller growing varieties, knowing full well that they may end up getting blown over.
I've created yet another bed for this and, of course, the soil will have to be improved- like every area of this yard. I start with what I have- leaves, unfinished compost, composted horse manure, pine needles, a bag of Black Gold Coco blend soil, alfalfa meal, rock phosphate, green sand, and a little crustacean meal- a lasagna bed, sort-of. We're getting 5 yards of soil coming, but not until mid-April and that too will get thrown in. Have to feed the soil.
The pea plants themselves can withstand some frost, but not the blooms- not really a problem as they'll come much later. I plan to have some plastic rolled up ready, just in case. I like to over sow, if you will, because pea seedling are really good in salads- and taste just like, you guessed it, peas!...a great way to get that pea flavor, if you're craving it, and you can't wait for the peas! Or how about growing them in the heat of the year, and not wait for peas. Since they are a cool weather crop, they really don't do well in hot summers. Because we have a short season here I may just do that if it gets too hot for them- like if I were to sow them too late, for example.
As you can see it's just a small spot for peas. I may add another grid later and do a second sowing- we'll see.
And because it was so hot today I had to throw a shade cloth on- inside the tunnel hit 83 degrees with the east door open- so I took down the top of the west side and added a shade cloth. The temps quickly dropped to 74 with the help of a mister. With cool weather crops still in there it's just too hot! I may have to take the end walls off, but I'd like to wait until may and for now I'll open the tops of them instead.
Inside everything is just growing like crazy! It's time to pull quite a few things in there- unfortunately I was a bad girl and didn't start a new set of stuff a week and half ago- I'll be starting something tomorrow- and I'll be including the wonderful Jericho lettuce I found that does really well in hot weather. It won't be long before the heat lovers will be started too, indoors, of course.
The Endive is looking wonderful.
A lot of this is ready to pull and replant- i'll probably direct sow some things and sow indoors too.
Other things that I managed to get done this week, with the help of my son and a dolly, was moving some huge rocks around on the field- one step at a time. I'm hoping to get the deer fence I won year before last (I think) up on the field so I can start growing there too.
And Today was also my first class as a garden coach- Seed Starting. It went really well and I plan on doing a post about it coming up soon- we had so much fun that I forgot to take any shots, but I'll do an outline of what I covered.
Hope you have a blessed Easter!
Happy Gardening,
Tessa
