Planted my peas tonight. This will be the second year that I have started peas in potting soil and the first time in rootrainers. I have direct sown in the past but had very poor results. It seems what peas don't rot get eaten by squirrels. I will keep them indoors until they sprout and then place them out in the coldframe. After they have established themselves in 3-4 weeks I will plant them out in the soil. Here are the varieties I am trying this season:
- Victorian Climbing - a shelling pea that grows to 8' tall. I just so happen to have an 8' trellis so that is were they will grown. I am also planning on companion plantings these peas with squash later in the season. The seed for these pea's was shared by Gary.
- Cascadia - a sugar snap pea. Will be grown with pea brush. The seed for these pea's was shared by Laura.
- Opal Creek - a golden coloured snap pea. Will be grown with pea brush as well.
- Oregon Sugar - a snow pea. These will be grown in a pot with bamboo canes. It will be the first time I have grown snow pea's and I look forward to tasting them fresh from the garden. The seed for these pea's was shared by Miss M.
I also started a bunch of ornamentals tonight and reseeded the broccoli that did not germinate well. Up next will be herbs followed by tomatoes. I am running out of space already!
Planted my peas tonight. This will be the second year that I have started peas in potting soil and the first time in rootrainers. I have direct sown in the past but had very poor results. It seems what peas don't rot get eaten by squirrels. I will keep them indoors until they sprout and then place them out in the coldframe. After they have established themselves in 3-4 weeks I will plant them out in the soil. Here are the varieties I am trying this season:
I am trying Cascadia this year. And you have reminded me how I had to start some indoors to make up for the poor performance of the ones I had sown directly. I used to have more success sowing them directly.
ReplyDeleteSally - I think direct sowing success has a lot to do with timing. They need warmer soil and not to wet to germinate well. I have not had good luck timing nature :-)
ReplyDeleteLast year, I direct seeded the peas. This year, I'll be giving them a jump start like you. Ditto for the beans.
ReplyDeleteFrigid temps expected here tonight (-15C), tomorrow and tomorrow night. Good thing nothing's planted out yet. (March has been so beautiful, I was tempted to a few times). Some of my winter sowings have germinated (brassicas, mostly). I've decided to risk it and leave them out and see what happens. (I have some indoor sowings to fall back on if ever they don't make it).
My celeriac looks sickly, how's yours doing ?
Snow peas are amazing, so sweet and cooked whole so they are a cincht o throw into stir fries and risottos. I sowed some a week and a half ago, and they are already two inches out of the ground and growing furiously. I guess we have vastly different conditions here and possums rather than squirrels seem to be the foe (though I never get them in the inner city.) Hope all your peas work better this year!
ReplyDeleteDan..I love the Oregon Snow peas...I have not had problems with squirrels stealing them but it did take quite some time for them to germinate as we started them in the cold frames...our night time temps are still high 20s to mid 30s.
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for Oregon Sugar Pod here - we call them mangetout in the UK. They were used in my pea breeding project.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just LOVE peas?
I love the Cascadias. I've never had problems direct sowing them, but they're protected by the fence, so don't get eaten.
ReplyDeleteGidday Dan - I still love the pitchfork photo! Glad you're feeling better. I also have alot of my snow and snap peas direct sown early this year - so it's pretty dicey as to whether they'll survive ... but I'm very excited to say that they are peeking through the ground already and seem to be doing very well! Good luck harnessing peas and mother nature :)
ReplyDeleteI had no luck with cascadia last year - what is pea brush?
ReplyDeleteI've planted my peas outside and they are going slowly if they have eluded those nasty pea-eating slugs!
I started about half of my Cascadia sugar snap peas indoors before planting them out. The other half was direct seeded. I also direct seeded the large shelling pea patch but had to reseed it when the birds cleaned me out of the sprouting peas! I am happy to report that the second planting is emerging nicely.
ReplyDeleteHaving no room for more starts is a sign of the spring times! My next wave of seed starting will take place in about a week when the curcubit family is up for starting - cukes, zukes, winter squash, and pumpkins. :)
I keep meaning to buy some root trainers, but for a bit of flimsy plastic they always seem a bit too expensive to me. I stick to toilet rolls! - loo rolls! bog rolls! What do you call them in Canada? :-)
ReplyDeleteMiss M -Got really cold here as well thursday-sat. Looks like next week will be warm again though. The celeriac is doing well. My only problem is I planted way to thickly and they keep germinating.
ReplyDeletePrue - I have only had grocery store snow peas, I bet the flavor is vastly different. We have possums here as well also I don't think they eat my veggies.. yet at least.
Sunny - We have been having pretty cool nights as well.
Veg Heaven - Peas are great! I used to hate them before I started growing them. What a difference between canned/frozen and garden fresh!
The Mom - We have lots of critters in our yard, quite a challenge at times.
Kiwi Gomes - Yes I am better finally, that was the worst cold I have had in years.
Stevie - Pea brush is just branch cuttings stuck in the earth as a trellis. Here is a link to my pea brush last year:http://veggiegardenblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pea-brush-post.html
KitsapFG - It seems every creature wants to eat pea's. We feed the birds in the veggie garden so I imagine they get a few of them as well. Next year I really need to get a shelf/florescent light system set up, my current grow light is more for already grown plants.
Matron - They are pretty pricey for what they are made of. I decided to take the plunge this year, plus they are made in Canada which was nice to see.