"We was like peas and carrots"
With spring being the busiest time of year at work, I'm always struggling to get things done on time in the garden. Late winter can have all the prep in the world, but somehow April, May, and June always come barreling past me.
With building the beds and getting the soil moved taking so much attention in March, the snow peas (or rather sugar snap peas) were late into the ground. I grew a small patch of sugar snap peas about 8 years ago in a window planter, but as soon as they began to flower I left town for a summer stock job and left the spoils to Tim. He assures me they were excellent.
That moment of dipping my toe into the waters let me know peas are hardy and will grow most places given a chance. Everything else in this bed was a bit of an experiment. The onions were planted from a couple neglected grocery store bulbs which started to sprout in the kitchen. The garlic which came from the garden of a friend of a friend, was meant for eating too, but wanted so badly to get back to the earth that it threw up shoots within just a couple days of arriving in the house.
The contents of this bed went in around April 20th. Well past the safe to plant date for peas, but out of danger for everyone else. The front half of the bed was covered scattershot with carrot seeds.
May 1st - The first of the pea shoots took well under two weeks to peak up from the ground. Just after this picture was taken, a store bought starter was planted next to (right of) the seedlings to see just how things would develop.
May 31st Within just a couple day of those initial flowers, the first pea pods appear. They grow fast (less than a week from flower to eatable pod). They are sweetest at this stage. You can, at least in theory, let them mature to full-sized seeds inside the pod either for shelling or storing. This is as of yet only theoretical.
Peas Blossom:
def 1 - The flower of a pea plant.
def 2 - A fairy character from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" who attends to Titania and is given the job of caring to Bottom as a ass.
June 19th Checking on the carrots before vacation. Trouble with checking on the carrots is that once you check, they stop growing. No big deal, I mean, he was tiny, but he was delicious. It should be noted that baby carrots one might find in the grocery store are whittled down from months old fully grown carrots, and soaked in sugar water. These, on the other hand taste like heaven. Yet one more thing grocery store item ruined.
Isn't he cute?
July 1st Two weeks later I found myself a full sized carrot. It was delicious. As they grow it becomes clear that sprinkling seeds might not be the best method for carrots. I have discovered that as they get closer to maturity, I can see the top of the root begin to emerge from the soil. Thus no need to pull up babies by accident. Still need to thin them out though.
This bag of carrot seeds we used was a mix of white, orange, and purple carrots. I can not wait for a big fat purple carrot to come out of the ground.
May 29th - Five weeks in the seedlings have shot straight up about 18". They over take the store start in terms of growth and foliage, but store start is the first to flower.
In the foreground you can see the beginnings of an unruly patch of carrots. It's so odd to think that my strongest association with carrot greens is with Bugs Bunny. Yet there they are, completely recognizable.
June 13th The full range of pea seedlings have started to flower and bear fruit. It does not seem, however, that there are ever enough pods at one time to make it into the kitchen. As fast as they develop they disappear into our faces.
July 1st As you can see, the snap peas have reached their full height of about 6 feet tall. They are slowing down production as the weather heats up, but the neighbors unfortunately located tree has the nice effect of shading them from about 1pm to 5pm so they might be saved from the worst of the scorching weather.
July 5th Several consecutive days of 90+deg weather have killed a weeks worth of blossoms. Perhaps the pollinators decided to take a break, or perhaps they simply don't set fruit at that temp. I was ready to pull them out to make way for the rapidly expanding watermelon plants yesterday, but there they were with a fresh set of flowers. The idea of just a couple additional crunchy mouthfuls was enough to give them one more week. Next year, I plan to plant more of them, earlier with succession planting. Perhaps then some will actually make it into the house.
“From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots.”