Archive for the ‘plant it’ Category

No frozen, canned, or even fresh pea from a grocery store ever tasted as good as one picked right from your garden.

This morning I was able to get out into my garden and plant peas.  The traditional day for planting peas is St. Patrick’s day.  But I figure I’m still in the right neighborhood.

This year I planted green peas (shelling peas), snow peas and my favorite ornamental sweet peas.  There are too many seeds in a packet for my garden to hold, so I am sharing peas with my friend.

Sharing seeds is always a great idea.  Most seed packets have more than one person can use, unless you’re lucky enough to have a really large garden.

I always soak my peas for 24 hours in a bowl of water before planting.  I think it helps them germinate faster.  Be sure to add enough water.  They really plump up after a good soak.

I amended my soil with a good compost in the Fall.  So it was ready for me to just dig my little trench.  I planted them about 1″ deep and about 2″ apart.  Now all there is to it is to keep them moist… but not soggy until they germinate.  Be careful when watering to use a gentle method, you don’t want to wash away the soil.  Once my peas are about 4″ tall, I’ll fertilize them.

Notice the wire for them to climb.  It’s inexpensive concrete mesh from the hardware store.  I’ve used tree stakes to secure it upright.  I’ve wanted to build a nice cedar frame to hold the mesh, but for now the tree stakes work well.  After a few seasons the mesh has rusted to a lovely brown color.  And It’s just perfect for the peas to climb.

Here’s a picture of Emma, last June in the garden, eating peas.  I’ve told the kids if they pick a pod with 9 peas inside, they could make a wish on it.  Mostly they’re just happy to sit on the edge of the garden boxes and eat peas to their heart’s delight.

June isn’t all that far away and I’m content to wait.  For now I was happy with the little bit of sun we had this morning.  Just enough to enjoy being in the garden planting peas.

This time of year I think we all start craving Spring.  I want greens, yellows, pinks, and purples.

And I’m tempted to pick up a big bouquet of flowers from the store as the late Winter snow flurries fly.  But a bouquet of flowers is a bit too frivolous for me these days, so I came up with a compromise.

These lovely little primroses were at the grocery store for less than a $1.50 per plant.  So for right around $4 dollars, I have this wonderful little centerpiece.  They are just the bright spot I’ve been craving.  And the best part is, once they are finished blooming… and the weather is suitable, I will plant them out into my garden.  Then they can be enjoyed year after year.

Here’s another little bright spot:

I have collected several favorite vases suitable for forcing a bulb.  Here is the hyacinth in bloom in my kitchen right now.  The scent is heavenly.  Over the years I’ve forced hyanciths, tulips, daffodils, and crocus, both in vases and in pots with soil.  There is a tutorial here.

Once they are done blooming, I cut back the bloom (leave the foliage) and plant it out in my garden.  It won’t bloom again the year you plant it, but it will bloom the next and subsequent years.

It’s also springy to grow a center piece of wheat grass:  There’s a tutorial here.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to bring a touch of Spring into your home, you just need a little creativity.