Today Ed got out his Warren pattern hoe and made the furrows to plant the first bed of peas. He only uses this hoe for planting peas as the rest of our garden is planted in a grid. It is hard to justify having a tool that is used only once each year, but peas are a favorite vegetable and they shall have whatever is deemed necessary. The chicken wire fence is for support. The welded wire fence is to exclude rabbits, woodchucks and deer. That seems like a lot of hardware for a few meals featuring our own fresh or frozen peas.
Ed asked me to bring him Oregon Giant and Lincoln seeds. I disappeared into the house and came back with 3 kinds of new pea seeds. "No, not those" he said. "Those are for later." For reasons that I don't fully understand, Ed likes to use up his old seed first. Making a second trip, I located Lincoln seeds from 2008 and Oregon Giants from 2009. If these seeds do not come up, the bed will be replanted.
Two more pea beds just like this one will be planted about two weeks apart. Two rows of seed are planted on either side of the chicken wire fence. We get forty-eight feet of planted row from twelve feet of the bed. Garden fresh peas are among our most delicious reasons for gardening. Even with the necessary fortifications to keep the animals out, they are worth the trouble.
We heard the tree frogs peeping for the first time tonight!
2 comments:
I need to put up fencing like that to keep the rabbits out. They will leave a lot of stuff alone, but they love the peas!
Still way too wet (or under snow) here to consider planting peas, but the kids are eager. Now if the weather would just cooperate!
Christine in Alaska
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