PLANTING PEAS & FIRST GERMINATION IN THE GREENHOUSE
Probably the vegetable I’m most excited to grow (and eat) this year is peas. Specifically, shelling peas. I grew snap peas last year but I think I didn’t realize what I was buying. If you don’t know the difference, much like 2020 Abi didn’t, snap peas have an edible pod and shelling (sometimes called English peas) do not. Shelling peas were what I was after and I finally got my hands on some Mr. Big peas this growing season.
Everyone, meet Penelope. Penelope, everyone.
Peas are extremely easy because they can be direct sown and can take a bit of a frost, meaning they can be planted outside beginning in early March here in Pittsburgh. I upgraded to a 13” wide terra cotta pot for them this year which I’ll place on my patio since my fenced-in vegetable garden is still under construction.
One of the best purchases I made for my garden in the last few years was some bamboo stakes. Today I used them to create a trellis for the peas, but I’ve also used them as perennial plant supports, to hold up netting, and as markers for plants, fences, and anything else in the garden. They are mildly flexible, hold up to the weather really well, and are reusable year after year.
Our gray tabby is Tain *waves* You’ll be seeing a lot of these two here in the journal! Our third cat Peepar might pop in here or there too.
I placed four stakes around the outside of the planter and one in the middle, tying them together at the top with another handy garden “tool”, garden twine. I also tied some of the stakes together to create crossbars which look super goofy but I hope it might give the pea vines something additional to grab on to as they start growing.
I spaced 4 peas for each stake and pushed them into the soil ~1.1.5 inches, per the instructions. Then I placed the planter outside in a spot that gets morning sun (the only sun available on my patio) and watered them in thoroughly. I was going to plant half as many peas (2 per stake) and see if I could do my first succession planting in a couple of weeks in the same pot, but I got too excited and planted them all right now. I should still have time this spring to plant more in the vegetable garden.
While I was outside I did my weekly watering in the mini greenhouse and we have our first germinating seeds! Both the yarrow and potentially some lettuce are starting to come up. Success! I predict the lettuce will be a complete mess because I watered with a watering can instead of misting them, so the seeds are probably all over the place. Whoops. The yarrow germinated at the same time as my indoor yarrow seeds planted earlier this week so it’ll be fun to compare the growth of the two.
